Brussels, 10/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 10 January, the European Commission said that it had nothing more to say on its decision to re-appoint to its ethics committee a former senior European official who has become a member of one of the biggest law firms in Brussels - a firm which is not itself listed on the European register for lobbyists.
Michel Petite was director general in the Commission's legal service when he took retirement on 1 January 2008 and joined the law firm Clifford Chance. He was legal adviser to presidents Jacques Delors, Romano Prodi and José Manuel Barroso, and was very involved in files on competition, the single market and taxation.
Michèle Rivasi MEP (Greens/EFA, France) highlighteded several issues which, in her view, disqualify Petite's re-appointment to the committee in charge of assessing risks of conflicts of interest for European commissioners. “We have learnt that Michel Petite organised two meetings on the tobacco directive between Clifford Chance lawyers and Commission staff”, she said, noting that Clifford Chance counts the Philip Morris International group among its clients. Furthermore, Clifford Chance has not signed the register of transparency of organisations exercising lobbying activities at the European institutions. “This body of evidence augurs nothing good in the fight against conflicts of interest at the top of the Commission. Consequently just one question can be asked - who is being taken for a ride?” she said in a press release.
Commission defends itself as it can. “There is no reason to question Michel Petite's ability to fulfil his functions on the ethics committee because this committee does not deal with subjects linked to tobacco”, a spokesperson for the Commission said on Thursday 10 January. “Consulting firms are not obliged to sign the register” of active interest groups at the EU institutions, argued the spokesperson for Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for Inter-institutional Relations and Administration Maros Sefcovic. The Commission has confirmed the interventions organised by Petite on the tobacco directive between September 2011 and September 2012. “But he did not have contact with the legal services of the Commission or with DG Health and Consumers” in charge of preparing legislation on the fight against tobacco, it assured. “Mr Petite informed the Commission that his firm gave legal advice to a tobacco company on legislation on tobacco. But it did not have lobbyist activity to modify the tobacco directive, so it did not sign the register”, the Commission spokespersons explained. “It is not necessary to open an inquiry because the rules have been scrupulously respected”, they concluded (our translation throughout). (LC/transl.fl)