Günther Oettinger faces a punishing gauntlet of critics in his appearance Monday before the European Parliament.

While the German commissioner’s conservative allies, including Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the Merkel government in Berlin, want MEPs to focus on his expertise for the new post overseeing the budget and human resources, the opposition to his promotion in Brussels is set to portray him as a man of questionable ethics and unacceptable views.

The hearing slated to run two-and-a-half hours is a test of Juncker’s and Berlin’s ability to get their way in this town, and of Parliament’s to check them. Parliament insisted Oettinger face hearings after his promotion, though it failed to get an up-or-down vote on his promotion to vice president of the Commission or even force his appearance before he took the new post.

Oettinger, who most recently oversaw the digital portfolio and earlier energy at the Commission, is a powerful but controversial figure. Juncker promoted him into the budget opening last fall in part to have an influential German able to push Brussels’ case in Berlin for potentially greater financial support for the EU once the U.K., and its billions of euros in contributions, leave the bloc.

The political discomfort is largely of Oettinger’s own making, and comes at time when he should be celebrating another career advancement. Many of the 44 questions he will face before a parliamentary committee — the number of questions is predetermined beforehand — will be attempts to revive the controversy over one speech in Hamburg in October, when Oettinger referred to Chinese diplomats as Schlitzaugen (“slant eyes”), and over his failure to disclose a trip on a private jet belonging to a powerful German lobbyist.

The German commissioner, who hails from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party, sent MEPs a 53-page document before the Christmas break in which he hoped to address their concerns on both issues, writing that “negotiations with China have certainly not been affected by any of my declarations.”

Regarding his flight from Brussels to Budapest in May on the private jet of Klaus Mangold, who has ties to Moscow and advised the Hungarian government on a Russian-backed nuclear power project, Oettinger admitted he met with the lobbyist, but declined to comment further.

“Questions regarding the participation of Mr. Mangold should be addressed to the Hungarian government as he was not part of the Commission delegation,” he replied to MEPs, adding that since the Hungarian government paid for the trip it didn’t need to be disclosed as a gift.

The former commissioner for digital economy and society replaces Kristalina Georgieva, who left to become the CEO of the World Bank. Oettinger and his team effectively took over the budget and HR portfolio on January 1 and Georgieva’s private office has already been dismantled.

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Although Commission President Juncker is within his rights to reshuffle portfolios with immediate effect, Parliament also has the right to demand an “exchange of views.” However, Green MEP Sven Giegold called it a “provocation” that Oettinger opted “not even to wait for the hearing” before taking up his new job. The German MEP called this an “unacceptable demonstration of power toward the Parliament.”

Don’t antagonize him

NGOs including Oxfam and Transparency International have lobbied against Oettinger’s appointment, penning an open letter that argues he “is not the right person” to handle the human resources portfolio.

The “exchange of views” will be co-chaired by Ingeborg Gräßle, who like Oettinger belongs to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union. She said she doesn’t want it to be used to dredge up the past but rather to look toward the future.

“I’d like us to use the opportunity for what it’s supposed to do — to get to know the candidate in order to better work with him,” Gräßle said. “The more we antagonize him, the more difficult it will be afterwards to work together. My worry is that we’ll miss that opportunity.”

Oettinger will get the chance to present his visions for the EU budget and the Commission’s human resources policy for around 15 minutes before facing MEPs for more than two hours of questions.

“He’ll get 44 questions — that is quite a lot for two-and-a-half hours,” said Gräßle, who chairs the budgetary control committee. “I hope that we won’t forget about the bigger question: Where are the main battlefields, where can we build alliances?”

Among the big questions hanging over Oettinger’s new portfolio are what is going to happen to the EU budget once the U.K. leaves the Union. Is it doomed to shrink or will the remaining member countries foot the extra bill?

A Commission official said the hope is that Oettinger will be able to lobby his countryman, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, to open his wallet.

Germany will be the “hardest nut to crack” for any new budget framework, the official said, adding that “it’s no coincidence” that Juncker had put forward a German from the CDU to oversee the EU budget.

Before new rules apply

The center-right group in the European Parliament, the European’s People Party, would like to keep the conversation to Oettinger’s new portfolio.

“The EPP group expects that this meeting will clarify Oettinger’s technical and policy expertise on EU budgetary issues,” said José Manuel Fernandes, an EPP member who sits on the Budget Committee.

But other lawmakers may want to do more than simply quiz him on his technical and policy expertise. Indeed, according to sources from the relevant committees, some are ready to push for a second hearing, which would take place after January 16 — the day the Parliament’s own updated internal rules come into force.

Under those new rules, MEPs will get the right to approve or oppose a change of portfolio for sitting commissioners. The Commission is not keen on such rule changes, which will have an impact on the relationship between the two institutions.

Gräßle, who doesn’t usually shy away from confrontation, warned fellow MEPs not to overstate the Parliament’s leverage over cabinet reshuffles in the Commission as opposed to their powers to approve brand-new commissioners. “To pretend to have the same legal position whenever portfolios change is a gross over-estimation of our position,” she said.