On Wednesday 21 December, the former European Commissioner Neelie Kroes was given an official reprimand by the European Commission for receiving employment income in 2015, even though she was in receipt of a transition allowance paid by the institution at the time.
Kroes was a member of the Commission between 2004 and 2014. She was reprimanded because in a statement signed in January 2016, she omitted to declare her 2015 income to the Commission, even though she accepted her transition allowance, which is paid to former Commissioners for the three years following their departure from the institution.
It was only a few days after the Bahamas Leaks revelations of last September that Kroes finally notified the Commission of her 2015 income. The Commission's decision in this latest episode in the 'Kroes' affair states that the lack of diligence she showed by omitting to declare the income received in 2015 in her statement of early 2016, whilst having accepted receipt of the transition allowance, merits a reprimand.
The former Commissioner broke article 7 of Regulation 422/67 of the Council laying down the remuneration regime for the President and members of the Commission, in connection with article 245 Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, the Commission explains. No other sanctions on top of the reprimand have been taken, as the former Commissioner paid back all the amounts she had unduly received, the Commission added.
The Commission took note of the fact that in September of this year, Kroes reported the actual figures of her financial situation in 2015 and 2016 to the Office for the Administration and Payment of Individual Entitlements. As she did this, the Commission was able to recover the money and therefore avoided any harm to the detriment of the EU budget. The Commission's decision explains that the institution does not have sufficient evidence or legal foundations to bring the matter of the breach of obligations before the Court of Justice of the EU and ask it to hand down a financial penalty.
With what she earned by way of remuneration in 2015, Kroes was not entitled to receive this transitional allowance. This allowance is no longer paid to her. It is reported that she is now in receipt only of the retirement pension payable to former members of the Commission.
Violation of the Code of Conduct Commissioners
In September of this year, journalists' investigations broke the news that Kroes had been a director of an offshore company in the Bahamas between 2000 and 2009, a fact she omitted to mention in her declarations of interest during term in office. On this point, the Commission finds that Kroes infringed the Code of Conduct of Commissioners. However, as she was unaware that she still held a directorship in this offshore company, the Commission decided not to take action against the former Commissioner. Her position existed only on paper and she was not paid, according to the Commission's arguments. The institution states that it has taken note of the apologies forwarded by a former Commissioner.
The European Commissioner for Competition under the Barroso Commission was a director of Mint Holdings Limited, a company registered in the Bahamas, between 2000 and 2009. However, the Code of Conduct of the EU stipulates the members of the Commission may not hold any other professional activity, paid or unpaid. When they take up their positions, Commissioners must not only resign all directorships, but also enter all directorships held over the preceding ten years in a public register. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur and Élodie Lamer)