Commission agrees to boost revolving-door transparency

EU institution will publish names of senior officials who leave for private sector jobs.

The European Commission, under pressure to boost transparency about its relations with lobbyists, has agreed to reveal the names of senior officials who leave for new jobs in the private sector.

In a letter to European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly, who had called for the change, the Commission said it would publish a list of such job moves once a year, adding that it had balanced the officials’ right to privacy against their commitment under the European Union staff regulations to avoid conflicts of interest.

O’Reilly welcomed the decision, saying it showed “further progress” by the Commission on transparency, which had been highlighted as a priority by President Jean-Claude Juncker. O’Reilly said the move responded to the public’s right to know that “thorough conflict-of-interest tests have been carried out.”

But the ombudsman also expressed concern about the Commission’s decision to publish information only once a year, saying she would maintain “her recommendation to the Commission to publish the names more regularly.”

O’Reilly has spearheaded a push for greater transparency to address concerns from some campaign groups about “revolving door” appointments, in which former senior officials move swiftly into private sector roles, taking their insider knowledge and institutional understanding with them.

In September 2014, the ombudsman presented the draft recommendation following an inquiry into conflict of interest concerns put forward by a group of transparency NGOs. The ombudsman urged the Commission to review its revolving-door arrangements to make them consistent and more transparent.

Under Commission staff rules, former senior officials must request permission from the institution before taking up employment opportunities for two years after leaving the EU public service. They are also prohibited from lobbying the Commission for 12 months after leaving the service.

O’Reilly wrote to Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva in February, warning that by denying public access to its decision-making process in approving private sector work by its former officials it could create “misunderstandings, distrust and indeed skepticism” about those decision.

O’Reilly told the Commission that post-Commission appointments “come into the public domain regardless” and, without offering a proper context for how the decisions are made, it ran the risk of damaging “the reputation not only of the official concerned but of the Commission and, by extension, the [European] Union.”

In one case, Corporate Europe Observatory, an NGO, took issue with a private sector role of Hervé Jouanjean, a former Commission director general who took on an advisory position with prominent law firm FIDAL after leaving the public service.

Speaking to POLITICO in July, Jouanjean — whose work with FIDAL was revealed by the company itself — dismissed Corporate Europe Observatory’s concerns, describing the group as having a “radical left” agenda which lacked democratic legitimacy.

“I have a profound sense of ethical responsibility,” Jouanjean said, adding that it was “unfair from a human rights point of view” to deny him the right to work after leaving the Commission. “People cannot prevent me from earning a living,” he said.

Meanwhile, Corporate Europe Observatory said Monday’s announcement by the Commission was a “narrow interpretation” of staff regulations and fell “far short of what is needed.”

“The Commission’s report does not cover all exiting senior officials, only those deemed to have taken a new role which could be connected to lobbying or advocacy,” said Vicky Cann, who works as a researcher and campaigner for the NGO.

In the first release of information under the Commission’s new transparency measures, the Commission revealed it had approved nine appointments by former senior officials, including Jouanjean.

The approved post-Commission jobs include that of Peter Faross, the former director general of the energy department, who will work for German industry consultancy Kaesler & Kollegen. In granting approval, the Commission noted that the firm “had neither financial nor contractual relations with the European Commission.”

In all work requests approved by the Commission, the former officials are reminded that they are not to lobby the Commission within 12 months of leaving the public service — a lobbying ban which is extended to three years for the former officials’ Commission departments.

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