MEPs take aim at former Commissioners’ pay

Budget measure would cut allowances paid to ex-members until ethics rules are tightened.

Members of the European Parliament looking to make a statement about EU ethics rules are poised to hit former commissioners where it hurts: in the pocketbook.

A measure in the EU’s budget package to be voted on this week cuts funds dedicated to paying monthly transitional “allowances” to ex-commissioners by 20 percent until the institution tightens its code of conduct for former members. The allowances, for 65 percent of a commissioner’s salary, are paid for up to three years after a commissioner leaves office.

The issue has become politically sensitive for the EU after revelations that former Commission President José Manuel Barroso had taken a job with Goldman Sachs, and that ex-competition chief Neelie Kroes had failed to disclose a business position she held while in office.

The parliamentary move was approved last week by members of the budget committee as part of the draft EU budget for 2017, with a provision calling for the spending cut “until the Commission enforces a stricter Code of conduct for Commissioners to prevent conflict of interests and revolving doors.”

The package is likely to be approved this Wednesday by all EU lawmakers.

“With this measure, the European Parliament is using its powers to effect change,” said Green Hungarian MEP Benedek Jávor. “If the Commission wants us to lift this budget reserve, it will have to strengthen its code of conduct in a meaningful way.”

Paying the allowances to former commissioners costs the EU €2.5 million annually. Former members have to notify the Commission within the first 18 months of leaving office of any jobs and positions and are not allowed to lobby EU institutions.

But this revolving door policy has come under scrutiny after the news about Barroso and Kroes — both of whom are now being investigated by the Commission’s ethics committee.

If approved by MEPs, the proposal will be negotiated for the EU 2017 budget talks with the Commission and the Council of Ministers.

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