On Thursday 15 March, the ombudsman of the European Union, Emily O'Reilly of Ireland, called upon the ethics committee of the European Commission to reinvestigate the case of José Manuel Barroso and review the matter of the professional activities of this former president of the European Commission, who now works for Goldman Sachs and is suspected of lobbying the Community institutions, even though he had undertaken not to do so.
A recent controversy surrounding a meeting between Barroso and the current vice-president of the Commission, Jyrki Katainen, has reopened the questions surrounding Barroso's revolving-door career move to Goldman Sachs.
The meeting, which took place in October, was recorded as a meeting with the bank Goldman Sachs and therefore considered a meeting for lobbying purposes, said the ombudsman, although Barroso and Katainen later said that it was a private and personal meeting. To begin with, Katainen explained that the meeting was given over to questions of defence and trade, then that it was a meeting between friends on his own initiative, he told EuObserver.
Barroso's appointment to Goldman Sachs in 2016, after ten years at the helm of the Commission (2004-2014), was hugely controversial. The matter was referred to the Commission's ethics committee, which concluded that he had not broken the rules in force (see EUROPE 11658).
The ombudsman argues that revisiting the case will allow a real opportunity to listen to the concerns and questions of the citizens on such practices.
Reacting to O'Reilly's request, Barroso stressed on Twitter: “I have not and will not lobby EU officials”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)