Michael McGrath confirmed as EU commissioner

The election of the full college of Commissioners will take place between November 25 and 28

Michael McGrath was questioned by three committees. File photo: Darragh Kane

Michael McGrath has been confirmed as the EU commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law.

The official confirmation came following a hearing that ran for more than three hours during which he was questioned by three committees.

MEPs voted to approve Mr McGrath for the role and once all evaluation hearings have concluded, the election of the full college of Commissioners will take place between November 25-28.

The Cork politician's performance under questioning went smoothly and there were no major slips or instances where he was unable to respond.

Unusually, Mr McGrath received not one, but two, rounds of applause at the well-attended hearing both times for his response to questions from far-right MEPs.

Hungarian politician András László raised his concerns that some member states do not execute leave orders for illegal immigrants who may have committed crimes in a prompt manner.

Mr McGrath said that the severity of a crime is not decided "by virtue of their identity or where they come from" and he does not believe the commission should seek to be divisive by pitting one group of society against another.

On the rule of law, Mr McGrath told the hearing that he wants to strengthen implementation and enforcement saying he is prepared to act "in a strong and forthright way" to ensure every member state respects it.

Dynamic pricing

Mr McGrath presented himself as a man of action saying that he does not want to be in "an endless cycle of report-writing".

Over the course of questioning, the former Finance Minister laid out his plans across all aspects of his wide-ranging portfolio among them tackling foreign interference and disinformation around elections.

He spoke of a new Digital Fairness Act which would ensure children are properly protected online and prevent social media influencers from misleading consumers.

The act will also look at marketing techniques that affect the purchasing behaviour of children in online games and addictive designs such as "endless scrolling".

It is through this act that Mr McGrath suggested he would look at potential unfair commercial practices under so-called dynamic pricing.

Dynamic pricing made headlines after Ticketmaster utilised it when selling tickets for the hotly anticipated Oasis reunion gig earlier this year when some fans paid over €400 for the same ticket tier as others paid under €100 for.

While dynamic pricing is not illegal, Mr McGrath said some aspects of it could constitute unfair commercial practice.

"Traders can freely determine their prices so long as they adequately inform consumers about the total price," Mr McGrath said.

It was raised that consumer protection should be officially added to the Commissioner's title but Mr McGrath noted that such a decision is above him.

The Renew Europe grouping, to which Fianna Fáil belongs, welcomed the approval of Mr McGrath stating that he "clearly demonstrated his commitment to upholding and strengthening the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights".