26/08/2020 (Agence Europe) – The European Commission has undertaken to refrain from any contact for two years with Adam Farkas, the former Executive Director of the European Banking Authority (EBA), now Director General of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), in order to avoid any conflict of interest. “The Commission representatives will not meet or have contact with Mr Farkas as CEO of AFME until 1 February 2022”, said the Commissioner for Budget and Administration, Johannes Hahn, in a written reply dated 20 August to a question submitted by MEP Paul Tang (S&D, the Netherlands). It is a “great victory” for the European Parliament, which had asked the European Commission to take this step in a resolution adopted in January (see EUROPE 12305/11), said the MEP in welcoming the move on Twitter, on Wednesday 26 August. In May, the European Ombudsman had concluded that the EBA should not have allowed the transfer of Mr Farkas to AFME (see EUROPE 12484/19). (MF)