Piotr Serafin had his confirmation hearing at the European Parliament on Thursday, at which he sought to prove his suitability for the post. He told MEPs his priority in the job would be for the bloc’s next budget to be one of “unity, not division.”

Each candidate put forward for a commissioner position has to be evaluated by the appropriate committees in a confirmation hearing. When all commissioners-designate have had their confirmation hearings and the committees have issued their judgments, the whole proposed Commission College is voted on by the parliament, which is expected to occur in late November.

Serafin told parliamentarians the bloc’s next multiannual financial framework "should include a plan linking reforms with investments in each member state," developed "in dialogue with the capitals and regions" of Europe, PAP reported.

Serafin said that in addition to climate change and the economy, the challenges facing Europe include Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, adding that as commissioner he would ensure that the budget addressed these challenges.

He also said EU budgeting needed to be simplified so that applying for funding was not a “bureaucratic nightmare” for beneficiaries.

Serafin told MEPs that increased spending was paramount.

"We know that investments in Europe must increase dramatically,” he said. “We also know that public finances cannot lift this burden alone. This is why we need to mobilize private and institutional capital."

Serafin was a deputy foreign minister in the Donald Tusk government in 2010–2014 and Tusk’s chief aide as president of the European Council in 2014–2019.