Brussels, 19/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission submitted the draft Code of Conduct for Commissioners to the European Parliament (EP) for its opinion in December (see EUROPE 10259). The Conference of the Leaders of the political groups in the EP will discuss the draft in February. After consultation with the EP, the Commission will adopt a code of conduct which will become effective immediately.
The new Code of Conduct for Commissioners has been criticised by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU), which states in a press release issued on 14 January that it is “too weak to prevent potential conflicts of interest when ex-commissioners take up new roles”. ALTER-EU calls on the European Parliament to substantially improve the draft code.
The new code “reflects best practices in the field of ethics regulations for public office holders and provides for the highest standards of ethical integrity”, wrote Commission President José Manuel Barroso in a letter to EP President Jerzy Buzek. Barroso hoped that other EU institutions would follow the Commission's lead with its code of conduct.
“In the performance of their duties (commissioners) must neither seek nor take instructions from any government or from any other body”, the draft code states. It goes on: “Commissioners should behave in a manner that is in keeping with the dignity and the duties of their office, both during and after their term of office.”
Avoiding conflicts of interest. The new code of conduct proposes to extend from 12 to 18 months the period of time during which former commissioners must seek the approval of the Commission before beginning another activity (ALTER-EU believes the period of time should be three years). The draft code extends the remit and composition of the ethics committee which currently is responsible for assessing potential conflicts of interest when a former commissioner takes up a new professional activity during the first year of leaving the Commission. In future the conclusions of the ethics committee are to be published.
The new code explicitly bans former commissioners from engaging in lobbying work related to their previous portfolio for a period of 18 months after leaving office. It does not, however, define “lobbying” or “conflicts of interest”, ALTER-EU regrets. The new code requires that only activities related to the portfolios of former commissioners be examined. Yet the college of commissioners, ALTER-EU points out, takes collective decisions.
Hitherto, the ethics committee has said nothing more on former commissioners who left office at the start of 2010 and have put their knowledge to the service of private companies. German commissioner Günter Verheugen, formerly a Commission vice-president and the commissioner for industry, was allowed by the ethics committee to take up four posts - with Fleischmann-Hillard, Royal Bank of Scotland, the Federation of German savings and cooperative banks, and the Union of Turkish Chambers of Commerce. Unfortunately, Verheugen omitted to mention that he had formed his own company in Germany - The European Experience Company. The Commission has still to come to a view on this last matter. (L.C./transl.rt)