The committee chair and political group coordinators will meet without delay after the hearing to assess the performance and qualification of the Commissioner-designate.

In her introductory remarks, Commissioner-designate Zaharieva expressed her desire to place Research and Innovation (R&I) at the heart of the EU’s competitiveness agenda. There is now momentum for investing more into R&I in a more strategic manner to allow Europe to achieve its digital and low-carbon transitions, she said, highlighting that R&I spending in Europe is lower than in the US, China or Japan. She pledged to propose a European Innovation Act, to push Member States to meet the 3% spending target on R&I, avoid brain drain, defend freedom of research, invest in R&I infrastructure and expand the European Research Council.

Support for Start-ups and, smaller companies

Ms Zaharieva also advocated for a comprehensive strategy to help start-ups and smaller companies grow by facilitating access to capital and…