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BackThe revolving door effect means the (rapid) change of people between political offices and profitable jobs to the private economy. The conflicts of interest resulting from this in favour of major companies damage the interests of employees and consumers and lead to an imbalance at political level.
At present, the Code of Conduct for Commission members regulates the possibilities regarding any activities after leaving office. According to this, former Commission members, who are taking up employment within 18 months after the termination of office, have to inform the Commission. The latter will then review the planned employment: in case of any overlapping interests between the new job and the previously headed department, an Ethics Commission will be involved to make sure that the integrity of the office is protected. The Commission is able to prohibit a change of occupation within the 18 months. In theory, sanction options (Article 245 TFEU) allow it to cancel among other any pension claims from the time as Commissioner if the integrity of office has been violated.
The revolving door is cheerfully swinging...
How inadequate the current regulations are, becomes clear by the example of a current case: former EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso will take up an appointment as a chairman for the Investment Bank Goldman Sachs International. In a publication, the AK has very impressively shown why this is problematic. And still: in spite of numerous dubious new appointments, the veto right of the Ethics Commission is hardly ever used. For example, following their time in office in the Barroso I-Commission, five other EU Commissioners have directly taken up lobby jobs. This is equivalent to about half of the EU Commissioners who left office! Only once a case was vetoed: the former Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy (Barroso I) was prohibited from accepting a board position with a bank.
However, the failure of enforcing the current regulations is not the only problem; the cooling off period of 18 months is also far too short. This has been demonstrated by a number of questionable appointments of members of the Barroso II-Commission. Since May 2016, the expiry date of the eighteen-month period, the former EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht has joined the board of ArcelorMittal, the world's leading steel and mining company. The former EU Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, joined the board of technology companies Uber and Salesforce – only two of many cases. Hence, the appointment of Manuel Barroso to the board of Investment Bank Goldman Sachs, one of the most controversial financial market institutes, is only the tip of the iceberg.
The Corporate Europe Observatory gives an account of the conflicts of interest, which are associated with Barroso’s appointment. Not only is he able to provide the financial institute, which was presented with the Worst EU Lobbying Award 2010, with his inside knowledge and contacts. In his new position, Barroso will also play an important role in the Brexit negotiations for Goldman Sachs and with regard to the interests of the financial industry, which is only too keen on deregulation.
For fear of a conflict of interest and of the citizens' trust in the EU being undermined, the European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has raised three questions in an open letter to President Juncker. These questions concern the consideration of involving the Ethics Commission and the role of Barroso in the Brexit negotiations; apart from that she has questioned the current Code of Conduct of the European Commission. In particular the finding that Barroso has not infringed the Code of Conduct is reason for her to review the latter and to furnish it with a number of possibilities of sanctions.
A stricter Code of conduct. Now!
The AK has been demanding for quite some time to extent the period during which former EU Commissioners can take up lobbying work to three years instead of the present 18 months as well as the setting up of an independent Ethics Committee to examine conflicts of interest. In reply to the current developments, ALTER-EU (Alliance for Lobbying, Transparency and Ethics Regulation) and the Campaign Organisation WeMove.eu have launched a petition; they demand stricter rules for former office holders in the European Union. The aim is to prevent these from making their contacts and their influence available to powerful companies and to sever the far too close associations between business and politics. This requires stricter regulations. Hence the demands comprise the following
A minimum three-year ban for any commissioner on taking up new roles which risk a conflict of intrest or involve any lobbying activityThe establishment of a fully independent and transparent ethics committee with the power to investigate and decide upon ex-EU officials’ carreer moves, and to sanction the if rules are brokenThe demand in the case of Barroso is to cancel his entitlement to a Commissioner’s pension.
Further information:
AK Information brochure on “Lobbying in Brussels – Breaking the excessive power of corporations”