In response to the wave of indignation following his predecessor's new job with the investment bank Goldman Sachs, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said on Saturday 5 November that he plans to tighten up the code of conduct governing European commissioners.
Juncker now plans to increase the so-called 'withdrawal period', during which the permission of the former employer must be sought for employment with a private group, from 18 months to 3 years for Commission presidents. The subject will be discussed next week at the weekly meeting of the college of European commissioners. Juncker will submit proposals and the college must give its green light. It also opens the door for the withdrawal period to be increased from 18 to 24 months for other commissioners.
In an interview published by the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir on Saturday, Juncker says that the code of ethics needs to be changed. However, the Commission has up to now always made the point that changes to the code of conduct would not have prevented the recent cases of revolving door job moves. Juncker accepted only fairly late in the day – on 11 Septemner – that his predecessors' move to Goldman Sachs, which was announced in July, should be put to the ad hoc ethics committee for examination.
In the case of José Manuel Barroso, this period was complied with. In late October, the ad hoc ethics committe said that the case of the Portuguese national, who served as president of the Commission between 2004 and 2014, was, admittedly, unwise, but did not break any rules.
"If the college of commissioners should reject this position, I will publically state that I will not take up employment with a bank or any other company for three years. Even though I don't plan to after that point either", Juncker said.
As regards the racist and homophobic comments of Digital Economy and Society Commissioner Günther Oettinger (see EUROPE 11661, 11660), Juncker said that he would not have said what Oettinger said, as it gives the impression of not liking the Chinese, gay people, Walloons and various others, and that commissioners should not make such comments. Juncker confirmed that he has asked Oettinger to apologise to anyone who feels that they were being referred to. However, he believes that Oettinger's words did not reflect his views and that furthermore, commissioners' public speeches should be restricted to matters relating to their own portfolios and should not express any kind of dangerous inspiration. He concluded by stating that he had warned Oettinger of this. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)