European Parliament calls for inquiry into Barroso's Goldman Sachs appointment
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E-mail Xinhua, November 25, 2016
European Union (EU) Ombudsman should open an inquiry into the European Commission's handling of the case of former Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso's appointment as non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs International, Members of European Parliament (MEPs) have said in a non-binding resolution adopted Thursday.
Passed overwhelmingly by 557 votes in favor to 24 against, with 44 abstentions, the resolution praised the work of Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly, and asked her to continue work on so-called "revolving door" cases, in which former senior EU officials accept private sector jobs shortly after leaving their posts, leading to questions of conflicts of interest.
MEPs were particularly concerned about former European Commission president Barroso's appointment last summer as non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs International investment bank.
The former European Commission president has faced criticism for his choice to accept the banking job, with even his successor, current President Jean-Claude Juncker, questioning the ethics of Barroso's decision in a video interview published by the Commission in September, and going so far as to suggest that Goldman Sachs was a contributor to the financial crisis that began in 2007.
In his defense, Barroso wrote to Juncker in September denying unethical behavior, calling the claims "baseless and wholly unmerited...discriminatory against me and against Goldman Sachs." The bank noted that the former president had observed an 18-month restriction period after leaving office at the European Commission before taking the job.
EU staff have seemingly been unconvinced, however, with more than 150,000 signing a petition in October asking Barroso be stripped of his pension.
In their Thursday resolution, however, MEPs argued that the scope for conflicts of interest in policy-making were much broader, and that greater care needed to be paid to this issue when appointing candidates to positions, regardless of which EU institution.
The report also praised the Ombudsman's efforts related to increased institutional transparency, the protection of whistle-blowers, and more openness regarding lobbying.
"This report raises several important issues which the Ombudsman has been dealing with in 2015 and which need further attention," declared rapporteur Notis Marias. "We welcome her efforts for greater transparency, and urge her to push for more openness in order to safeguard the good administration and democratic accountability within the EU decision-making process."
The European Ombudsman investigates complaints about maladministration in the institutions and bodies of the European Union. Emily O'Reilly was re-elected European Ombudsman by the Parliament at its plenary Strasbourg session on Dec.16, 2014. Enditem
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