On Thursday 24 October, the European Parliament asked the Commission about a new case involving the ‘revolving doors’ problem: the case of Adam Farkas, Executive Director of the European Banking Authority (EBA) since 2011, who will be joining the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), one of the financial sector’s main lobby groups, as Director General from February 2020 (see EUROPE 12329/18).
“Will the Commission exert pressure on the EBA to block Mr Farkas’s move? What will the Commission do to put its ethical standards into practice across all its institutions and agencies, and prevent further cases of revolving doors from undermining citizens’ trust in our institutions?”, asked MP Paul Tang (S&D, Netherlands).
Neven Mimica, the European Commissioner for Development, who is responsible for responding on behalf of the Commission, pointed out that European Commission representatives do not have voting rights on the EBA’s Board of Supervisors.
But he stated that, as a member of the Board, the Commission was able to contribute to the discussions and pleaded “for the strictest possible approach towards Mr Farkas’s departure”.
“Restrictions are in place to prevent conflicts of interest”, he added, stating that Mr. Farkas should not personally lobby the EBA for two years after his departure, nor, for a period of 18 months, advise the AFME and its members on matters directly related to the work he performed at the EBA during the last 3 years.
But, in the opinion of MEPs, the conditions set by the EBA when Mr Farkas left are inadequate and almost impossible to verify in practice.
Several MEPs, including Damien Carême (Greens/EFA, France), also felt that a broader debate should be launched on the rules governing the revolving doors practice in the EU. Mr Carême argued for longer transition periods between positions where there may be a conflict of interest, and for harmonisation of rules across all European institutions and agencies. He also called for the creation of an independent European ethics authority.
And since neither the EBA nor the Commission seems to want to act, he suggested that the European Parliament should do so, by refusing Mr Farkas access to its premises, as it has done in the past for Monsanto lobbyists (see EUROPE 11872/30).
On Wednesday, 58 civil society organisations, including Finance Watch, Corporate Europe Observatory and Positive Money, signed a letter from Change Finance asking the EBA to reconsider its decision. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)