Brussels, 22/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - There is a chance that pressure will be stepped up over the next few days on the former Commissioner for Industry, Günther Verheugen. Following the repeated refusal of the latter to attend the Parliamentary enquiry committee into the Volkswagen scandal (EMIS), Kathleen Van Brempt MEP (S&D, Belgium), the Chair of this committee, intends to ask the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to directly intervene in this case, she explained to EUROPE on Wednesday 22 June.
The EMIS Committee Secretariat received another refusal at the beginning of this week from the former German Commissioner, despite an express request being made by the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz (see EUROPE 11575). His response was "almost a cut-and-paste" copy of his first letter in which he justified his refusal by explaining that only the current Commission had competence in this matter and the documents necessary to respond to MEPs' wishes.
The Chair of the commission of enquiry was visibly annoyed and said "We believe such a response is unacceptable". In a reference to her previous career as a Belgian Minister, Ms Van Brempt subsequently pointed out that it was important that former Commissioners assumed their political responsibility, even when their mandates are finished. She regretted that "We do not have any means at our disposal to force him to attend".
Revision of Commissioners' code of conduct. Based on this observation, the MEP intends to ask Jean-Claude Juncker to revise the Commissioners' code of conduct in an effort to ensure that Commissioners are held responsible for their actions even when their mandates have come to an end. The letter is expected to be sent to him today or tomorrow at the latest, she informed us. She also insisted that this request is also to ensure that such scenarios are not repeated in the future.
One internal source informed us that the chances of Mr Verheugen attending the Commission of Enquiry are minuscule. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)