At the meeting of the European College of Commissioners on Wednesday 29 March, “and at its request”, the Commission appointed Henrik Hololei, currently Director General in the Directorate General (DG) for Mobility and Transport, to the post of ‘adviser hors classe’ in the DG for ‘International Partnerships’. This decision will take effect on 1 April, a spokesperson for the institution announced on Wednesday 29 March.
The chief executive had accepted nine free business class trips on Qatar Airways between 2015 and 2021 as his staff negotiated an ‘open skies’ agreement with Doha that would give the Qatari carrier free access to the European market. This text, negotiated since June 2016 and endorsed by the Commission in October 2021, still needs to be validated by MEPs.
On 7 March, the European Commission tightened “with immediate effect” its internal rules to “avoid any conflict of interest or perception of conflict of interest”, when a European official accepts hospitality from a third party when travelling abroad (see EUROPE 13136/13).
The Director General in question had allowed himself to accept hospitality from Qatar (see EUROPE 13135/18).
In addition, the Commission made three other appointments: - Hanna Jahns will become ‘Director of Disaster Preparedness and Prevention’ in the Directorate-General for ‘European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations’ (DG ECHO); - Susan Panter Duncan will be ‘Director of Workplace and Well-being’ in the Directorate-General for ‘Human Resources and Security’ (DG HR); - Michiel Scheffer is appointed Principal Adviser in the Directorate-General for ‘Research and Innovation’ (RTD), where he will chair the Board of the European Innovation Council (EIC). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)