ethics
January 30, 2013 - 14:03
The longer term effects of the revolving door between public officials and private sector lobbyists have been graphically illustrated in the wake of the Dalligate lobby scandal, in the case of Michel Petite. Five years on, Petite represents the legal interests of corporate clients to the Commission. Aside from the nutty Commission decision to reappoint him as an ethical adviser on the revolving door, the Petite case illustrates that the upper echelons of political power at the European Commission still don't take the problem of the revolving-door seriously. The EU is seriously lagging behind our neighbours across the Atlantic, in the U.S. and Canada.
July 25, 2012 - 14:45
The revolving door has been in the headlines again in recent weeks with the speedy departure of a top official from the EU's medicines agency to a prominent law firm. Such moves, known as going through the revolving door, can allow the private sector to 'capture' or unduly influence the work of the public sector and it is vital that all public authorities including the EU agencies and the European Commission take this threat seriously. This example and other recent revolving door cases again raise questions as to how well the EU institutions implement the current rules, and whether the Commission will seize the initiative to tighten up on the loopholes which undermine them.
July 23, 2012 - 16:30
It seems as if barely a week goes past these days without a high-level summit taking place in Brussels to discuss issues relating to the euro-zone crisis. Much has been said about the roots of the crisis but no one can deny that in the background is the lack of trust that people have in their national politicians and European institutions.
July 10, 2012 - 18:57
It is now 16 months since the cash-for-influence scandal rocked the European Parliament and led to the resignation of two MEPs (Ernest Strasser and Zoran Thaler). A third MEP, Adrian Severin of Romania was sacked by the Socialist group but refused to resign from the Parliament. After the scandal, MEPs developed a new Code of Conduct aimed at preventing this from happening again, but it only came in on 1 January 2012 and cannot be applied retrospectively. So what happened next to Severin?
July 2, 2012 - 11:38
“The new code of conduct will be a strong shield against unethical behaviour.”
That was the verdict of the then European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek who had just shepherded the new MEP code of conduct through both his own European People's Party (EPP) group and the rest of Parliament. The development of the code followed the cash-for-influence scandal which saw three MEPs disgraced for tabling amendments in return for payment or lucrative second jobs and greater transparency via the new code was supposed to stop MEPs from ending up in the pockets of wealthy lobbyists. The code came into force on 1 January 2012, so six months on – how well has it fared so far?
Corporate Europe Observatory
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is a research and campaign group working to expose and challenge the privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby groups in EU policy making.
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