The committee on budgetary control (CONT) of the European Parliament expects the European Commissioner for Human Resources, Günther Oettinger, to shed all possible light, on Tuesday 27 March, on the express appointment of Martin Selmayr, former head of Cabinet of the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to the position of Secretary General of the institution at the end of February (see EUROPE 11988).
“This is not about the survival of the Commission”, but we need “credible” explanations, Philippe Lamberts (Greens/EFA) told EUROPE on Monday 26 March. He went on to say that the MEPs' actions should focus in particular on ensuring that the next President of the European Commission appoints a new Secretary General at the end of 2019.
The French Socialist delegation “does not want to see the European Commission brought down and a motion of censure is not its first choice”. Quite the reverse, it has issued a press release calling for the position of Secretary General to be reopened in full respect of the rules.
Sticking strictly to the rules is what the Commission is arguing in its answers to the 134 questions of the CONT committee. It points out that Selmayr was of a sufficient grade (AD15) to be appointed Secretary General and could have been appointed to the position directly, without first being made deputy Secretary General.
As head of Juncker's cabinet, Selmayr was aware that his predecessor intended to step down on 1 March 2018. Juncker and his head of cabinet reportedly even hoped that Alexander Italianer would stay in position beyond that date. The Commission goes on to point out that the option of becoming Secretary General was confirmed the day before the meeting of the College at which Selmayr was to have been appointed deputy Secretary General.
The Commission also argues that it is common practice to have included the appointment of Italianer's replacement on the agenda of the meeting of the College of Commissioners on the same day, due to the degree of confidentiality required. This is exactly what happened when the three previous Secretaries General of the Commission, David O'Sullivan, Catherine Day and Italianer, were appointed.
A way out of deadlock. Once there is full transparency on Selmayr's appointment, the MEPs may try to break the deadlock by re-tabling the appointments procedure for senior European officials as laid down in the EU staff regulations.
This type of appointment must be made impossible in the future by setting in place more orderly procedures, in order to limit appointments on the basis of political affinity, said Lamberts. This will also apply to the Parliament, he added.
The current Secretary General of the European Parliament, Klaus Welle of Germany, served as head of cabinet to the President of the Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, between 2007 and 2009. His deputy, Germany's Markus Winkler, is the former head of cabinet to Parliament President Martin Schulz (see EUROPE 11976).
The Commission's responses are available at: https://bit.ly/2pIl81i (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)