CURRENT REVOLVING DOOR RULES IN THE EU INSTITUTIONS

Source: TI 

The demand for policy insiders is high, particularly among lobbying outlets. 30 per cent of MEPs who have left politics for other employment in the last few years now work for organizations registered on the EU lobby register. For former European Commissioners the share is more than 50 per cent. The exchange of knowledge, experience and personnel between the public and private sector can bring very positive results. Cross-fertilization, in which former public office holders share their experience by writing books or teach at universities, is extremely useful. Through direct involvement in companies or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), they can provide a better understanding of how political decision-making works. However, there are risks involved as well; undue influence, conflicts of interest and in some cases regulatory capture by special interests are particularly problematic. Risks include “time-shifted quid pro quo”, group think and insider knowledge about circumventing the rules. According to TI many of those leaving the EU institutions and specifically politics now have activities where risks of conflicts of interest cannot be ruled out. Most worrying are those situations where senior decision-makers from the EU move directly into positions where they seek to influence former colleagues or their staff or join organizations they have previously regulated. 26 former MEPs have been hired by Brussels lobby consultancies shortly after leaving office. Likewise for the European Commission: former Commissioners from the Barroso II Commission have accepted positions in the private sector, including with ArcelorMittal, Uber, Bank of America and Volkswagen. Many of these jobs include contacts with the EU institutions or overseeing EU relations. The current revolving door rules are inadequate. For the Commission, an 18-month cooling-off period is in place. However, the College of Commissioners judging ethics breaches of current or former colleagues and the inadequate resources and mandate of oversight bodies remain important concerns. With regards to the Parliament, the absence of any post-employment rules is even more worrying. TI’s report finds that tracking the career paths of officials – both into and out of the EU institutions – is currently a real challenge, let alone monitoring and managing their conflicts of interests. The current EU post-employment rules are not in line with the self-proclaimed role of the EU as an international champion in ethics rules leading international best practices. Canada, Norway and France, for example, have much stronger and more developed ethics frameworks to manage the revolving door phenomenon. Canada has a five-year cooling-off period for senior officials, ministers and members of parliament. It also has two independent Commissioners with a total of 74 staff and far-reaching investigative powers to monitor compliance and sanction violations.

Recommendations

European Commissioners

• The cooling-off period for EU Commissioners should be extended from its current 18 months to three years.
• The cooling-off period for Commission Presidents should be five years.
• Former Commissioners should be prohibited from lobbying the EU institutions - both directly and indirectly - during the cooling-off period. This would entail not only ruling out direct lobby contacts, but also ruling out managing or guiding the lobbying activities of others. Former Commissioners should notify the Commission of any new employment during that period and ask for prior approval of any employment that might create a conflict of interests.
• The Commission should establish a standing ethics body that is fully independent. This body should have the ability to make binding recommendations and impose credible sanctions. It should be sufficiently resourced, have the necessary investigative capacity and be able to start investigations itself. An independent body would relieve the College of Commissioners of the duty to pass judgement on the conduct of former or current colleagues.
• In the long term, all the EU Institutions should consider the creation of a single ethics institution along the lines of the French High Authority for Transparency in Public Life (HATVP), which could oversee conflicts of interest, financial declarations and the lobby register.

Members of the European Parliament

• The European Parliament urgently needs to introduce post-employment rules. It should introduce a flexible cooling-off period, based on the length of service. During the 6-24 month period during which former members receive a transitional allowance from the taxpayer, they should be prohibited from lobbying the EU institutions – both directly and indirectly.
• MEPs should also notify the European Parliament of any new employment to ensure compliance during their cooling-off period. All notifications of lobbying or other activities with a potential conflict of interest should be published on the Parliament’s website, in machine-readable format.
• The European Parliament should establish a standing ethics body that is fully independent. Even better, it should establish a joint body together with the other EU institutions. That body should have the ability to make binding recommendations and impose credible sanctions. Such a body should be sufficiently resourced, have the necessary investigative capacity and be able to start investigations itself. An independent body would relieve the current Advisory Committee on the Code of Conduct of the duty to pass judgement on the conduct of colleagues.

All EU Staff

•  Post-employment rules for EU staff are already relatively strict. Assistants to Members of Parliament, like all EU staff, have a cooling-off period of up to 24 months, while Members themselves face no restrictions at all. Revolving door cases involving senior officials are made public, but this information should also be provided on the EU Transparency Register. For each organisation it should be indicated which senior officials have been hired from the EU institutions to undertake lobbying activities.
• There should be a review to ensure that the same rules that apply for post-employment indeed apply to those EU civil servants working for other employers while on sabbatical or long-term leave. While on leave from the EU institutions, civil servants should not engage in lobbying the EU and should not work in any job that might create a conflict of interest. To make sure, the application of these rules should be overseen centrally and should not be left to line management.

Current Authorities

EU Commission: Adhoc Ethical Committee / College of Commissioners

Mandate

• Assesses possible ethical breaches, violation of the CoC and advises the President
• Post-mandate activities of Commissioners covered
• Provides confidential guidance to Commissioners upon request, no trainings

Sanctions as defined in Ethical Codes

• For COI in post-employment: Cutting transitional allowances, pensions and other special privileges
• Commissioners are subject to disciplinary actions up to and including compulsory retirement and deprivation of pension rights or other benefits

Post employment rules

• 18 months cooling-off period
• Need to notify Commission of intention to engage new occupation
• Life-time obligation to act with integrity and discretion

Resources

• No staff
• Ad-hoc Committee with 3 members.
• No known resources
• No investigation unit
• No information available

EU Parliament: Advisory Committee / EP President

Mandate

• Assesses possible ethical breaches, violation of the CoC and advises the President
• Post-mandate activities of MEPs not covered
• Provides confidential guidance to MEPs upon request

Sanctions as defined in Ethical Codes

• No sanctions for COI in post-employment
• Submitting false or incomplete declaration of interest can lead to withdrawal of daily allowances
• MEPs are subject to disciplinary action, up to and including the termination of office in case of serious allegations (requires a two-thirds majority in the EP)

Post employment rules

• No cooling-off period after mandate
•  No restrictions on second jobs while in office, except for lobbying
• When lobbying, MEPs do not benefit from facilities granted (EP access badge and office)

Resources

• 2 Staff members in Members Admin Unit
• 5 sitting MEPs plus reserve members
• No investigation unit
• No information available