The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, stressed that Martin Selmayr, his former head of cabinet whom he has appointed Secretary General of the European institution by means of an expedited procedure will not be stepping down, on Friday 23 March.
“Mr Selmayr will not step down because I am the only one capable to ask him to step down”, Juncker said.
At a summit of the European People's Party (EPP) the day before, Juncker reportedly warned his audience that he would resign himself if Selmayr was forced to, according to information published by Politico.
When asked about the Selmayr case, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, said that they valued Selmayr's professionalism and reiterated that a procedure was underway. “Just because he is German does not mean that he will do what the German government wants”, Merkel stressed. Macron acknowledged that any democracy has its intrinsic “weaknesses”.
The Commission had until the end of the week to answer questions put by the committee on budgetary control of the European Parliament, which is calling for transparency on this express appointment (see EUROPE 11985). On Tuesday 27 March, Commissioner Oettinger will answer the MEPs' questions in person.
As to the question of the distribution between member states of senior European posts, the Chancellor referred to discussions in Germany observing that the country is underrepresented in Director General positions at the European institutions and at the head of the parliamentary groups.
German individuals chair the EIB, the European Stability Mechanism and the European Banking Resolution Authority. The secretaries general of the European Parliament, Commission and European External Action Service German. The chairs of the EPP, S&D and GUE/NGL groups in Parliament and the co-chair of the Greens/EFA group are German. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with the editorial team)