MEPs of the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) unanimously adopted on Thursday 12 December a draft resolution expressing their concerns about the "revolving doors" case of Adam Farkas, Executive Director of the European Banking Authority (EBA), who will join the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) as Director General from February 2020 (see EUROPE 12356/9).
At the end of October, the European Parliament had already questioned the Commission on this subject (see EUROPE 12329/18), as well as the President of the EBA in November (see EUROPE 12362/2), but was obviously not convinced by their answers.
The text, drafted by ECON Committee Chair Irene Tinagli (S&D, Italy), considers the restrictions imposed by the EBA on Mr Farkas to be "relatively light" and asks the EBA to reconsider its authorisation decision.
"Unanimous support for a resolution in Parliament is rare and remarkable. That makes the signal all the stronger: Parliament does not accept lobbying groups rewarding our regulators with well-paying jobs", commented MEP Paul Tang (S&D, Netherlands).
The compromises reached between political groups, consulted by EUROPE, also invite all EU institutions to avoid any contact with Mr Farkas for 2 years and ask the European Parliament services to examine very carefully whether or not an European Parliament access badge should be issued to him during the same two-year period, if he was actually to take up his duties at AFME.
"If the EBA does not effectively prevent this conflict of interest, MEPs will take action themselves and systematically avoid any contact with lobbyist Farkas", said Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA, Germany) in a statement.
More generally, the text calls on the Commission to review and harmonise the rules on movements between public authorities and industry in order to better prevent conflicts of interest.
The resolution has yet to be approved by the European Parliament as a whole at the January plenary session. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)