Revolving Doors & Far-Right Ties: Controversial Figures Among New EU Commission Nominees

Revolving doors & conflict of interest

Maria Luís Albuquerque (Portugal): the candidate-commissioner for Financial services and the savings and investment union has a worrying revolving door history. This includes a move from being Portuguese Minister of Finance to join the UK-based debt collector Arrow Global bandwagon, which was handling €300 million of [Portuguese financial services group] Banif bad debts. 

Marta Kos (Slovenia):  the candidate-Commissioner for Enlargement is currently employed as a Senior Adviser at Kreab, one of the biggest corporate lobbying consultancies in Brussels. Kreab's corporate clients include Amazon, Google and BP, as well as banks and chemical manufacturers. She is married to Henri Getaz, Secretary General of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

Jozef Sikela (Czech Republic): the candidate-Commissioner for International partnerships has had long career at Erste Group, one of the largest financial services providers in Central and Eastern Europe, where he was responsible for corporate and investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, real estate finance, trade finance, financial markets and macroeconomic analysis. 

Wopke Hoekstra (The Netherlands):  the candidate-Commissioner for Climate, net zero and clean growth - He faced a parliamentary investigation in 2023 for allegedly promoting oil and gas exploration in the Netherlands for personal financial gain. His career has been marked by conflicts of interest, including his role as a Dutch senator while partnering with McKinsey, and he was named in the Pandora Papers for offshore dealings. His opposition to financial support during COVID-19 also strained relations with southern European politicians, raising concerns over his lack of solidarity.

Ekaterina Zaharieva (Bulgaria):  the candidate-Commissioner for Startups, research and innovation - In 2018, she was accused by a former employee-turned-whistleblower of running a ‘cash-for-passports’ scam, selling passports to foreigners and granting them visa-free travel across the European Union.

Far-right affiliations

Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Greece):  the candidate-Commissioner for Sustainable transport and tourism -After being elected Governor of Central Macedonia in 2013, he invited representatives of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party to an annual parade and compared the fascist party to the socialist PASOK. In 2016, he deliberately missed the signing of an agreement between Thessaloniki and the UNHCR to improve conditions for asylum seekers.

Raffaele Fitto (Italy):  the candidate-Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms - Over the years, Fitto has changed parties (moving further to the right), ending up in Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy (FdI). Has been involved in several trials for bribery and corruption. He was sentenced to five years' disqualification from public office and one year's imprisonment, but was later acquitted of all charges. While president of the Puglia region, Fitto was also accused of conspiring to short-sell the trading company Cedis, but was later acquitted.

Olivér Várhelyi (Hungary):  the candidate-Commissioner for Health and animal welfare -  He is a controversial figure in Brussels, particularly for his positions on Israel/Palestine, Serbia and Georgia. Orbán's man is the current Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement.

In the months before the publication of von der Leyen's plans for the next term in July, intense corporate lobbying by several coalitions took place. Both von der Leyen and the Council were in constant and deep dialogue about the priorities. That left heavy fingerprints on the guidelines for the next Commission, and it shows on the list of Commissioners and their portfolios.

Corporate Europe Observatory Researcher and Campaigner Kenneth Haar says: “In February, a coalition of industries, predominantly energy-intensive industries, launched a statement with ten demands, all of which were linked to an "Industrial Deal". With the nomination of a Vice President in charge of industrial strategy, they have hit the jackpot: 10 of 10 demands have been met. As they are the very industries that have fought climate policies most fiercely, that bodes ill for a green transition."

"There is no denying that the slogan of 'competitiveness' has been used on so many occasions to bury or water down important environmental policies and climate measures. To see that underlined in the title of the Vice President of a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, is worrying, and follows on the downgrading of climate policies in von der Leyen's guidelines for this commission."

Corporate Europe Observatory Research and Campaign Coordinator Olivier Hoedeman adds: “It’s shocking to see such an astonishing number of candidate-Commissioners with a background in the corporate world that creates a serious risk of conflicts of interest and pro-corporate bias. Von der Leyen has given many of these candidate-commissioners portfolios that make these risks extremely acute. 

Several of the candidate-commissioners have affiliations with the far right that make them unfit as European Commissioner. 

Citizens deserve Commissioners who can be fully trusted to defend the public interest against the onslaught of corporate lobbying pressure that awaits them. 

MEPs must now intervene strongly and use the approval hearings to prevent a Commission team with glaring conflicts of interest.”

ENDS 

For media inquiries, please contact

Kenneth Haar, Corporate Europe Observatory Researcher and Campaigner

kenneth@corporateeurope.org

0045 2360 0631

Olivier Hoedeman, Corporate Europe Observatory Research and Campaign Coordinator

oliver@corporateeurope.org

0032 4 74486545

Marcella Via, Corporate Europe Observatory Press Officer

media@corporateeurope.org

0039 348 4201435