The new proposal of the EU Commission in view of the scandals, which came to light this year alone, can only be described as insufficient.

Time and again, the EU Commission is shaken by scandals, which indicate that the current rules for EU Commissioners are obviously not adequate enough to avoid conflicts of interest and to prevent unethical behaviour. Only a few days ago, Günther Oettinger, EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society made headlines by using the private jet of a Russian lobbyist to fly to Budapest.

However, the greatest scandal of the year was caused by José Manuel Barroso, the former EU Commission President, who let it be known this summer, that he would take up the position as adviser for the Investment Bank Goldman Sachs International. The conflict of interest, which arose because of the appointment of a former EU Commission President with this financial institute, has given rise to questions both with the civilian population and the European ombudsman Emily O'Reilly.

In his State of the Union speach in September, Jean-Claude Juncker announced that the code of conduct for EU Commission members would be tightened. This proposal, which has now been known since this week, can only be described as modest. The extension of the “waiting time”, hence the period during which former EU Commission members are obliged to inform the current EU Commission about new professional plans, from 18 months to 2 years is to be welcomed in principle as is the tightening of the rule for EU Commission Presidents to 3 years.

However, it is obvious that the obligation to inform alone will not be adequate without strengthening the Ethics Commission. In order to effectively avoid conflicts of interest, the AK has been demanding for a long time to extend the ban of lobbying work carried out by former EU Commissioners to three years instead of the current 18 months as well as to set up an independent Ethics Committee to examine conflicts of interest.

ALTER-EU (Alliance for Lobbying, Transparency and Ethics Regulation) for example makes it clear that “by refusing to creatre a stronger ethics body with fully independent members and the power to investigeate breaches of rules and to impose sanction, Juncker continues to allow commissioners to regulate themselves. This means we are likely to see more revolving door scandals of the sort linked to ex-President Barroso or ex-comissioners Neelie Kroes and Kare de Gucht.”

Further information:

AK Info brochure on “Lobbying in Brussels – Breaking the excessive power of corporations”

Press release “President Juncker proposes tightening of the 'code of conduct’ for Commissioners

Press release ALTER-EU “Tweaks to ethics rule for EU Commissioners only Band-Aid solution”