Commissioners’ declarations of interests: their behaviour needs to be irreproachable

“The College of Commissioners is a group of top European Union officials. It is not surprising that any information about Commissioner activity outside his or her mandate provokes strong emotions among both national politicians and EU citizens. This is why it is so important that the Commissioners do not raise any suspicion of conflict of interest”, said Tadeusz Zwiefka MEP, Vice-Chairman of the EPP Group and the Group’s Spokesman on Legal Affairs, welcoming today’s adoption of guidelines for the Commissioners’ declarations of interests.

He stressed: “The irreproachable conduct of the Commissioners is important not only for their personal image, but for the image of the Union as a whole. The recent revelations about the activities of some former Commissioners not only hamper the image of the European Commission but that of the whole European Union, becoming the munition for the EU’s opponents.”

Tadeusz Zwiefka also welcomed more detailed rules which, as provided by the Report, should apply to the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, responsible for the scrutiny of financial declarations, helping to detect possible conflicts of interest.

“The Legal Affairs Committee is not an investigation committee. It verifies the declarations of Commissioner-designates based on the information submitted to it. The new procedure adopted today gives the committee more certitude when it comes to the verification of any possible conflicts of interest. This was the European Parliament’s task: now it’s up to the European Commission to fulfil its own commitments and adequately revise the Code of Conduct for Commissioners”, concluded Zwiefka.