Brussels, 10/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission takes the view that the current code of conduct for commissioners is “working very well” but acknowledges that work is continuing on whether, or not, improvements should be made to it. Before beginning his second mandate, Commission President José Manuel Barroso stated in his political guidelines that he intended to review the code of conduct for commissioners in the hope that the code would become a reference document from which other EU institutions could draw inspiration.
The European Commission is the only EU institution to have such a code of conduct. The Commission's idea would, in some respects, add an interinstitutional aspect to this code of conduct. The Commission awaits establishment of the new framework agreement governing relations between the Commission and the European Parliament before getting down to work on the code of conduct. The EP is expected to adopt the text for this framework agreement in October and, after that, as the Commission side explains, they will see what changes should be made to the code of conduct.
There has been considerable criticism in recent times regarding the Commission's ethical rules. Some MEPs and a number of NGOs have been shocked to see former European commissioners make money in the private sector from the experience and address book gained during their time at the Commission. “The European Commission must present a new code of conduct as soon as possible”, said Ingeborg Grässle (EPP, Germany), explaining that the Parliament had given José Manuel Barroso until August to achieve this. But all in vain. Grässle considers, for example, that former commissioners should wait two years before being able to accept a post of consultancy in the private sector.
Until now, the Commission's “ethics committee” has found no fault with the fact that former commissioners who left in early 2010 placed their knowledge at the disposal of private companies. “This is not because our code of conduct does not work as it should but simply because there have been no cases of conflict of interest”, the Commission points out. Joe Borg of Malta, who used to be commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, today officiates a consultancy office in this same sector. The Commission has, however, called on him not to intervene in matters in connection with his former work as commissioner. Charlie McCreevy, from Ireland, who was formerly responsible for the internal market, is now working with Ryanair. There is no risk of conflict of interest as far as he is concerned as he was neither competition commissioner nor transport commissioner. However, to “avoid all risk, the Commission has asked him not to work on cases that were ongoing during his time of office at the Commission”, a source explains.
Günter Verheugen of Germany, who was formerly vice-president of the Commission and industry commissioner, has received the go-ahead from the ethics committee for his four posts in the following sectors: - the Fleischmann-Hillard firm, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the federation of German popular banks, and the Turkish Union of Chambers of Commerce. The problem is that, failing to comply with the code of conduct, Verheugen did not state that he had created his own company in Germany, the European Experience Company, in April. This company provides training seminars with members of the European institutions and “strategic counselling” on European policy matters. On 1 September, Verheugen did at last notify the matter to the Commission, noting in passing - according to a source familiar with the dossier - that this was not a case of lobbying. The ethics committee will take a decision “as soon as possible”, that is, in coming weeks. (L.C./transl.jl)