On Wednesday 23 November, the European Commission confirmed the desire of its president, Jean-Claude Juncker, to strengthen the rules of the commissioners' code of conduct, after the wave of indignation that followed the recruitment of José Manuel Barroso by investment bank Goldman Sachs (see EUROPE 11673).
On Wednesday 23 November, Juncker sent a letter to European Parliament President Martin Schulz calling for the opinion of the Parliament on two important questions: - firstly, the update of the 2010 framework agreement on relations between the European Parliament and Commission, so as to authorise commissioners to stand in European elections without first having to resign; - and secondly, the amendment of the commissioners' code of conduct extending the cooling off period (during which, once they have finished their commissioners' post they cannot take on important positions in companies), which is currently 18 months, to two years for former commissioners and to three years for the president of the Commission.
Extending the cooling off period to three years for a former Commission president would not have enabled Barroso to join Goldman Sachs this summer.
A necessary meeting with democracy. "The Commission is a political institution which is directly accountable to the European Parliament and renewed every five years in the light of the outcome of the European Parliament elections. Already, many of our commissioners have stood as candidates in European Parliament elections or are former prime ministers or ministers. In the future, like it is common practice in all our member states, I want the members of the Commission to be able to stand as candidates in European elections without having to step down from their tasks, as is currently required by the framework agreement", Juncker stated in a press release. His announcement is not new, but dates back to his State of the Union address on 14 September. Juncker believes that the elections to the European Parliament "are and should be a necessary rendez-vous with democracy, also for the Commission".
Juncker proposes abolishing the rule (set out in point 4 of the framework agreement) that requires commissioners to step down from their duties when they want to stand for European elections. Appropriate safeguard measures will be put in place, the Commission promises, to prevent the use of Commission personnel and staff for campaign purposes.
Stricter ethical rules. Juncker would also like, even if it is a little late, to learn the lessons from Barroso's very controversial appointment to the US bank. "In the light of recent experience made with members of the previous Commission, I feel that our code of conduct should be tightened in order to set the highest ethical standards possible for cases of conflict of interest", Juncker stated, concluding that "tighter rules are certainly not sufficient to bring about acceptable ethical behaviour in all cases – but they are an indispensable starting point". (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)