THE REVOLVING DOOR EU STYLE

The “revolving door” – which appears to link the EU institutions directly to the private sector, allowing employees to move almost effortlessly between the two – is at the heart of the close relationship between the EU institutions and Brussels’ lobby industry. A number of former European Commissioners have gone through the revolving door; that is they have moved straight from public office into lobbying jobs. This raised serious questions about potential conflicts of interest. The phenomenon of officials working in the EU institutions, especially in very senior policy-making or decision-making roles, also going straight into an industry or corporate lobby jobs is less well known. But it is not uncommon, with senior policy officials often moving to work on issues closely related to their former public role. Such job moves create conflicts of interest, and allow officials to potentially abuse their inside knowledge of European decision-making and their access to former colleagues for the benefit of their new corporate employers or clients. There is also risk that the prospect of going through the revolving door could influence officials while in public office, leading them to act, not in the public interest, but in the interest of future employers or clients. The EU institutions have rules to govern the revolving door, but these are weak and are poorly implemented.

Sabbaticals

The Commission welcomes sabbaticals for its staff, saying that it “is in principle favourable to staff getting further experience outside the Commission as their career develops: "it is important that we are aware of new ideas and practices in other business sectors”. Sabbatical appointments can last for periods longer than one year and staff members have the automatic right to return to their old job. Specific revolving door rules are applied to those who wish to go on sabbatical and officials are told that they cannot deal with cases that they have been involved in during the past three years and cannot take part in professional meetings with their former department, on behalf of their new organisation, for six months (one year in the case of senior staff). These rules  recognise that someone on sabbatical retains a link with the Commission. Nonetheless, sabbatical appointments form an important part of the revolving door problem and there is no outright ban on EU staff undertaking sabbaticals which involve lobbying, providing lobbying advice or which provoke other conflicts of interest.

Temporary Contracts

This is the case where EU officials move seamlessly from temporary contracts within the institutions to industry and then back again. The revolving door rules do not systematically apply to staff on (temporary) contracts. According to the Commission: “only those contract staff who have had access to sensitive information shall be subject to [revolving door] obligations”. The service where the contracted staff member was employed is required to determine whether the individual had access to any sensitive information. Yet some staff on contracts can work for the Commission for periods of several years, and the issue of whether an official might have had access to sensitive information is not related to whether or not a future job move might provoke a conflict of interest. This represents a major loophole in the present rules. The exclusion of contract staff from the revolving door rules is not universal across the European institutions.

Secondment

This is the case where EU officials go on a secondment for a couple of years from an EU job to an industry role, knowing full well that a job remains open for them in their previous institution when they have decided that its time to go back.

The EU staff regulations govern the revolving door moves of officials in the Commission, and the other institutions, and these rules were tightened up in 2013. Now, senior officials leaving the EU institutions face a one-year lobby ban, and those on sabbatical are forbidden to lobby their old institution. Yet these lobby bans are too restrictively drawn-up and are too short. Top EU officials, arguably, are as important as commissioners, and should face a three year lobby ban; lower-level civil servants should face a two year restriction. And again, indirect lobbying (providing lobby advice and strategy, for example) should also be banned. In addition, officials on temporary contracts should face revolving door rules; right now they are largely excluded.

Illustration

Taneli Lahti, the Former Head of Cabinet for the European Commission’s Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis,(Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue, also in charge of Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union) is joining forces with the Confederation of Finnish Industries in October. But Lahti isn’t jumping the Commission ship for good. Instead, he’s going on leave for a couple of years as part of a contractual entitlement, which is granted to him as an EU civil servant. The Finn will then walk back into a Commission job, although which position he will get remains to be seen. Lahti stepped down from his cabinet position in April and has since been on parental leave, which ends on October 1. He will then begin a 2-year contract with the Finnish confederation, as its Director of European Affairs. During Lahti’s 12-year career at the Commission, the Finn also worked under Olli Rehn, the Former Commissioner for Economic and Monetary affairs who is now Minister of Economic Affairs in Finland.