Brussels, 07/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 1 November, 25 MEPs from the ranks of the S&D, Greens/EFA, ALDE, GUE/NGL and EFDD parties at the European Parliament wrote to the new President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, calling upon him to set in place mechanisms to prevent the phenomenon of the 'revolving door', whereby senior officials and Commissioners leaving the institution in some cases go on to join private sector companies they worked with during their time at the Commission.
Five such cases tarnished the final days of the first Barroso Commission, the MEPs explain in their letter, with five out of 13 outgoing Commissioners going on to join industry. Although the code of conduct of the European Commissioners has since been changed, additional reforms are needed, to take greater account of ethical criteria, the MEPs argue. Amongst other things, they recommend that the notification period for positions taken up by outgoing Commissioners and the ban on working for lobbies be increased to three years and that the current ethics committee be replaced with a more formal and official body.
This call comes upstream of a hearing on Thursday 6 November on the subject at the committee on budget control of the European Parliament. The European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, made similar calls in late September. The Irish official made 16 recommendations, for instance calling on the Commission regularly to publish on the Internet all relevant information on senior European officials leaving the administration to work elsewhere, together with their names. Amongst other things, the Commission would have to ensure that the staff responsible for examining these officials' departures for other sectors have no direct professional links with the officers in question. Upon his election, President Juncker promised the MEPs an exercise in transparency, first of all pledging to bring in an obligatory register for lobbyists. (SP)