MEPs, campaigners attack revised code of conduct for commissioners
Commission says code is the most rigid in the EU.
MEPs and transparency campaigners have attacked changes to the European Commission’s code of conduct for commissioners, claiming that the rules are still inadequate to prevent conflicts of interests. The Commission on Wednesday (20 April) adopted a revised code, which a spokesperson said was among “the most rigorous” for public office-holders in the EU.
The new code includes the extension from 12 to 18 months of the ‘cooling-off’ period after a commissioner leaves office during which former commissioners must seek Commission approval before taking up a new job. They would also be barred from lobbying the Commission for 18 months in any policy areas they handled when in office.
Paul de Clerck of Friends of the Earth Europe, a campaign group, said that the 18-month period was too short to prevent potential conflicts of interest. His group has called for a three-year moratorium. He added that the rules still left openings for ex-commissioners to engage in lobbying and called for a total ban during the cooling-off period.
According to Commission officials, other changes aimed at strengthening the code are clarifications of existing rules. Rules that forbid the hiring of spouses, partners and close families to commissioner cabinets have been clarified, as have limits on hospitality and gifts. Any benefit worth more than €150 cannot now be accepted and other gifts received by commissioners acting in a diplomatic capacity will have to be handed over to the Commission’s protocol office.
The commissioners made a new commitment to update their declarations of interest “at least once a year”. A three-member Commission advisory ethics panel – to address conflict of interest concerns – was given a wider remit to conduct investigations into any general ethical questions linked to the code of conduct. Its non-binding recommendations will be made public in an effort to give its conclusions more weight.
‘Not sufficient’
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Ingeborg Grässle, a German centre-right MEP, while approving the tighter restrictions on hospitality, said that the changes were “not sufficient”. She said that the changes failed to address MEPs’ concerns over the transitional allowances ex-commissioners receive after their term in office ends.
MEPs have been calling for the Commission to change the regulation on salaries and allowances after revelations that several members of the 2004-10 Commission were still receiving a generous transitional allowance, despite having taken up other well-paid posts.
Grässle said that the Commission had ignored her call to ask the Council of Ministers to stop the transitional pay-outs. She said the powers of the ethical committee also remained ill-defined.
Bart Staes, a Belgian Green MEP and a vice-chairman of the European Parliament’s budgetary control committee, said that the changes “were never seriously discussed”. He complained that his committee had been sidelined by the Parliament’s political group leaders, who had agreed the changes with José Manuel Barroso, the Commission president, without even consulting MEPs. The group leaders endorsed the changes on 31 March.