EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT REVOLVING DOOR

Source: TI International

Former MEPs and their assistants as well as experts from political groups and the EP secretariat are attractive hires for organisations that seek to influence the legislative process of the EU. They often bring a wide professional network and insider experience. MEPs also come with an access badge to the European Parliament that is valid for the rest of their life. The number of MEPs and staff leaving the European Parliament in search of new employment opportunities has been increasing quite significantly over the years.

According to TI’s research on the post-term employment situation of MEPs, 30 per cent of the 161 MEPs who left politics for other employment now work for a registered lobby organisation. Most worrying are those situations where former MEPs move directly into positions where they seek to influence former colleagues or staff or oversee others who do so. Former MEPs have been hired by Brussels lobby consultancies within the first two years after leaving office. In most cases, the public and the institution only learn about new controversial occupations of former MEPs when cases appear in the media. For obvious reasons, at that point it is too late to manage any risks of conflicts of interest and to protect the reputation of the institutions. For 20 per cent of the former MEPs, it is currently impossible to find any indication at all of their new roles and activities.

Current Legal Framework for MEPs and Assistants

Currently, there are few restrictions on MEPs regarding (additional) employment while they are in office and none whatsoever once they leave parliament. A recent reform of the European Parliament’s rules of procedure and the annexed Code of Conduct has brought little change in this respect. There are still no post-mandate restrictions for MEPs, but MEPs should now, at least in theory, notify Parliament of any new employment after leaving office. However, it remains unclear how this would be enforced. Rules for MEPs had already specified not to use their lifelong access badge to the premises if they engage in lobbying activities inside the building. Compared to European Commissioners’ lifelong obligation to integrity, post-mandate obligations for MEPs are inadequate, especially considering that their own assistants already face a two-year cooling-off period under EU Staff Regulations. Those who have served for at least five years have to notify Parliament of new employment, which may “either forbid them from undertaking it or give its approval subject to any conditions it thinks fit”. Questions remain on how exactly this can be enforced. The institutions have little control over the activities of former staff once they have left, with the exception of withholding payments such as pensions. In addition to the cooling-off period, all assistants must “refrain from any unauthorised disclosure of information received in the line of duty” for two years after the completion of their contract. None of this applies to former members of parliament, however. Introducing a cooling-off period for MEPs and other post-mandate rules would require changes to the Statute for Members of the European Parliament, something that it has so far deemed politically challenging.

The European Parliament Revolving Door in Numbers

Following the 2014 election, there have been a number of high-profile revolving door cases making the headlines. These cases highlight the reputational risks for the European Parliament.

Among the most well-known and controversial cases are:

• Sharon Bowles (UK, ALDE) joined the London Stock Exchange only months after leaving the European Parliament. As an MEP, she was Chair of the Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee (ECON), one of the most influential committees in the Parliament. As the Chair of the ECON committee, Bowles oversaw the drafting of new financial market regulation following the 2008 financial crisis.
• Holger Krahmer (Germany, ALDE) was an MEP for 10 years and worked extensively on the regulation of the car industry in the Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI). After leaving Parliament, he became director of European affairs, public policy and government relations at Opel Group.
• Silvana Koch-Mehrin (German, ALDE), is now a senior policy advisor at GPlus Europe.
• Wolf Klinz (Germany, ALDE) is a senior advisor at Cabinet DN.
• Krzysztof Lisek (Poland, EPP) is now a Special Adviser for Defence and the European Parliament at FIPRA International.
• Olle Schmidt (Sweden, ALDE), George Lyon (UK, ALDE) and Brian Simpson (UK, S&D), are all senior consultants for Hume Brophy.
• Several MEPs have opened their own consultancy firms providing EU lobbying services such as Arlene McCarthy (UK, S&D), Graham Watson (UK, ALDE) and Marije Cornelissen (Dutch, Green).

Beyond the individual cases there is a more widespread problem of former MEPs going through the revolving door. TI’s analysis of the career paths of 485 former members who left the European Parliament since the elections in 2009 shows that 171 have found employment outside politics. 30 per cent of these former MEPs now work for a registered lobby organisation. Most strikingly, 26 of them are now with consultancies lobbying the EU. This means their new job probably includes lobbying their former colleagues and staff or overseeing and instructing others to do so. Another 18 former MEPs now work for companies or business associations registered in the EU lobby register. Nine are involved with registered NGOs and six with think tanks. This information probably does not reflect the whole picture. For 97 former MEPs, TI could not find any information. For others TI might not have found all of the details.