Sources indicate that announcements will be made by the European Commission on Tuesday 22 November about the next stages in the process of strengthening the code of conduct for European Commissioners.
The College of Commissioners held an initial policy debate on Tuesday in Strasbourg on the code of conduct and a planned change to the 2010 framework-agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the Commission.
In response to the wave of indignation following the appointment of José Manuel Barroso to investment bank Goldman Sachs, the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said in early November that he wanted to tighten up the code of conduct for Commissioners (see EUROPE 11669, 11662).
The former Luxembourg prime minister called for the period of time known as ‘retirement’ to be extended from eighteen months to three years, during which former presidents of the Commission have to ask permission from their former employer before working for the private sector. Juncker said he was open to extending from eighteen to twenty-four months the ‘latency period’ for former Commissioners. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)