Brussels, 01/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Monday 30 November, several members of the budgetary control committee of the European Parliament moment called for improvements to the code of conduct for Commissioners, particularly the rules on 'revolving doors'.
Some MEPs argue that former Commissioners should be subject to clear rules when they accept new positions, in order to avoid any conflicts of interest, and the European Commission should disclose information on these new positions and the reasons for which they were agreed to.
Vicky Cann, of Corporate Europe Observatory, states that four members of the Barroso II College (Viviane Reding, Siim Kallas, Neelie Kroes and Karel de Gucht) should not have been authorised to take a total of eight jobs, mainly in the private sector, with responsibilities in areas related to their former portfolios (see EUROPE 11199). Cann calls for a revision of the code of conduct, in particular: - extending from 18 months to 3 years the period during which former Commissioners may not carry out lobbying to the Commission in matters regarding which they held responsibility in their former positions; - the creation of a fully independent ethics committee to assess requests for authorisation of new jobs; - complete disclosure of new jobs, both paid and unpaid.
The MEP Dennis de Jong (GUE/NGL, Netherlands) said that he had written to the Juncker Commission with concrete proposals to tighten up the rules (extending the transition period, independence of the ad hoc ethics committee, etc.), but that the Commission had responded to the effect that this would be “superfluous and expensive”. He referred to work carried out by the Ombudsman in this area.
Inés Ayala Sender (S&D, Spain) called for Cann to back up her proposals with facts. Inge Grässle (EPP, Germany), president of the budgetary control committee, said that the EP would continue to follow the code of conduct dossier closely. Several MEPs, such as Bart Staes (Greens/EFA, Belgium), said that they would raise the issue when the Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermans, attends the meeting of the budgetary control committee on Thursday 3 December. Staes feels that there are a fair few gaps in the code of conduct.
Speaking on behalf of the European Commission, Donatienne Claeys-Bouuaert said that former Commissioners are very well aware that they must comply with the ethical obligations. “In the event of any infringement, they could face sanctions under article 247 of the Treaty” (any member of the Commission can be dismissed by the Court of Justice). The Commissioners are familiar with this lesson, said Claeys-Bouuaert. She defended the decisions made on new positions: “there are no conflicts of interest with former portfolios, otherwise they would not have been authorised by the Commission”. She said that prohibiting former Commissioners from taking any position in the private sector “goes beyond the ethical framework which applies to former Commissioners. Indeed, their expertise can be very useful”. The Commission is rigourous and take pains to ensure that it does not authorise any activities which could present either a conflict with the former portfolio, or a conflict with the interests of the EU. As to the idea of an independent (external) ethics committee, she pointed out that the Commission had proposed creating an inter-institutional ethics committee several years ago, but that this had been turned down by the Council and the EP. Since then, the Commission has revised the composition of the ethics committee to make it more independent (a judge from the Court of Justice, a former member of the EP and a former Director General of the Commission). The Commission is not perfect, but it has a very thorough system. As regards notifications, the Commission has identified an activity which may not have been notified and called upon the former Commissioner to do so (this was a position in a think tank, not a private sector activity or a seat on a board of directors, and carries no risk of conflict of interests). She did, however, concede that the eight activities referred to by Corporate Europe Observatory “will be assessed at political level, under the responsibility of the President and Vice-Presidents of the Commission”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)