Articles

This month the European Commission for the first time ever blocked an ex-Commissioner from taking up a job in the private sector. The former Internal Market Commission Charles McCreevy had to resign from his directorship at London-based banking start-up NBNK after Catherine Day, the Secretary General of the Commission informed him that the Commission was unable to approve the post. She told McCreevy that “should he wish to pursue this activity, a negative decision will be submitted to the Commission for adoption” on October 4.

On 7 October 2010, the European Commission confirmed its first ever decision to block an ex-Commissioner from taking a new job on grounds of conflicts of interests with his previous portfolio. The decision concerns ex-Internal Market Commissioner Charlie Mccreevy’s controversial directorship in the recently formed investment bank NBNK, which aims at making profit by buying assets of bailed out banks.

Analysis of the European Commission’s lobby transparency register by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation in the EU (ALTER-EU) shows that the data in the register is fundamentally unreliable. This briefing note looks at the top 50 corporate lobby organisations in the register and argues that tighter disclosure requirements and greater oversight are long overdue. Such improvements are not currently on the agenda of the High-Level Working Party preparing the joint Commission-Parliament register.

No proposed regulation is so weak that it cannot be weakened further. And Goldman Sachs knows the strongest argument by heart: what if other countries chose something even less ambitious?

Indian and European civil society groups call for an immediate halt to the India-EU trade negotiations If you or your organisation want to sign this letter, please send your endorsement to: barbara[at]wide-network.org We, signatories to this letter, are deeply concerned that the ongoing negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union (EU) will fuel poverty, inequality and environmental destruction, and call for an immediate halt to the disastrous trade talks.

Last month former European Commissioner Charles McCreevy joined the board of NBNK Investments PLC, a new investment vehicle which according to media reports aims to “buy banking assets that are being sold off by banks for regulatory reasons”. McCreevy's salary will be between 61,000 and 122,000 euro per year depending on “NBNK achieving a major acquisition. McCreevy is also reported to hold 20,000 shares.”

After brewing for months, the controversy around the number of former Commissioners going through the revolving door into lobbying and lobby advisory jobs has finally boiled over. In the last few days, the six Commissioners that have moved into private sector jobs with potential conflicts of interest have been exposed in the press across Europe.

Günter Verheugen is one of the six Commissioners from the previous Commission team who have moved into private sector jobs which might entail conflicts of interest (out of 13 Commissioners that left in February 2010). Many of these cases, such as Charlie McCreevy’s move to RyanAir and Meglena Kuneva’s move to BNP Paribas, give serious cause for concern. By launching his own lobby consultancy, Verheugen is blatantly violating the rules.