Cecilia Malmström – Commissioner-designate for Trade (nominated by Sweden) – had to answer a number of difficult questions during her hearing by the European Parliament‘s Committee on International Trade (INTA) on 29 September. Malmström’s answers to these 5 toughest questions reveal best how she managed to handle the parliamentary grilling:

– Can we trust you to negotiate with the United States, if the allegations that you tried to help them undermine the European Union data protection reform are true?
– Are you ready to remove the investor-to-state dispute settlement mechanism (ISDS) from trade deals?
– Are trade deals a threat to European jobs and standards?
– Will the EU-Ukraine trade agreement be changed because of Russia?
– If the United Kingdom decides to leave the EU will you try to avoid a trade war?