EU commission nominee Varhelyi put to second confirmation round

The European Commissioner-designate for health and animal welfare, Hungary's Oliver Varhelyi, failed to sail through his vetting in Brussels on Nov. 6, and will have to provide further written details, according to parliamentary sources.

Would-be members of the EU's new top executive team are undergoing public confirmation hearings at the European Parliament, which can test anything from the candidate's personal convictions to their knowledge of dense policy files.

Varhelyi, nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's man in Brussels, faced a more than three-hour grilling that delved into his knowledge of health policy and women's and reproductive rights.

"Why do you think I'm not an ally of women?" Varhelyi asked. "I live my life with four women. I have three daughters, and I live with my wife."

On abortion, he maintained it was up to each of the bloc's 27 members to create its own policy.

"We have different solutions, member state by member state. And these are choices of the society," he said.

Varhelyi, who was a commissioner during Ursula von der Leyen's first term, was also asked about an episode in parliament in 2023, when he was caught on microphone calling lawmakers "idiots."

"I can only repeat that it was not intended for the European Parliament," he said of the incident.

At the end of his hearing, lawmakers requested Varhelyi provide further written clarification over the next few days, the parliamentary sources said.