Several prominent academics or former European politicians - including Ingolf Pernice of Germany, Robert Badinter and Jean-Claude Trichet of France, Etienne Davignon of Belgium and Anni Podimata of Greece - have criticised the process that led to the rejection of the candidature of Internal Market Commissioner-designate Sylvie Goulard, in an article published on Monday 21 October and addressed to the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli (see EUROPE 12346/1).
According to them, the presumption of innocence enshrined in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 48) should have applied during the Parliamentary hearings of the French Liberal candidate. Thus, the request made by MEPs who asked Ms Goulard to undertake ex ante to resign in the event of an indictment on the cases concerning her was "not necessary", say the signatories, since the future President of the European Commission could have asked her to resign if necessary. In addition, such a prior commitment should have been required for all Commissioners-designate.
On the issue of the €300,000 remuneration paid by an American think tank to Ms Goulard when she was an MEP, the signatories to the declaration note that the European Parliament has always opted for "transparency rather than a ban" on such additional income (see EUROPE 12351/6). The European Parliament might very well change the rules in force for all Members in the future, bearing in mind that, during the previous parliamentary term, one third of Members received such remuneration, according to a study by Transparency International (see EUROPE 12059/4). Thus, the signatories consider that the MEPs should have based their opinion on existing rules rather than on "subjective, even arbitrary" considerations.
The Conference of Presidents of the Parliament's political groups was then invited to clarify the procedure that led to Ms Goulard's rejection, a procedure that the signatories consider to be tainted by "biased innuendoes" and "false allegations".
See the statement: http://bit.ly/2MzWRGG (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)