Anger as ex-commissioner asks Prodi for job favour

Date: 09/01/03

By David Cronin

FORMER EU Commissioner Peter Sutherland has come under fire for asking Romano Prodi to help a woman secure employment as "a favour".

This week European Voice received a copy of a letter which Sutherland, the EU's competition chief in 1985-88, sent to the current European Commission president in March last year.

It reads: "Dear Romano, I have a favour to ask of you. I enclose a CV of a young lady from Sicily. She is highly intelligent and very presentable. I wonder if you could put her name into the system to see if anything can be done? Yours ever, Peter."

Dutch left-wing MEP Erik Meijer accused Sutherland of "abusing" his close relations with Prodi - a personal friend - by making this request.

"I don't think this is appropriate but mighty people will always try to bring people they know into jobs. The only way to avoid this is to have open procedures for appointments [in EU institutions], that are announced publicly, in all cases," he said.

While permanent civil servants in the European Commission have to pass an examination, its directorate-generals can hire a limited number of consultants or "agents" on fixed-term contracts, provided they have sufficient qualifications.

A request by this newspaper for a copy of Sutherland's letter was initially turned down by the Commission. Although the institution's top official David O'Sullivan agreed to release the letter upon appeal, personal details about the Sicilian mentioned in it were deleted.

Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said: "All EU citizens have a right to write to the Commission, so I have no comment on the letter of Mr Sutherland.

"Obviously, the Commission has formal recruitment procedures, which are followed in all cases."

The EU's treaties require all commissioners to "behave with integrity and discretion as regards the acceptance, after they have ceased to hold office, of certain appointments or benefits".

A spokeswoman for Sutherland defended his request.

"Mr Sutherland considers it to be quite normal if a suitably well-qualified candidate for a possible position with the Commission should come to his attention that he would suggest that person's name and details should go into the system," she said.

"It is public knowledge that president Prodi maintains a register of his correspondence - publicly available on the internet - so that the subject matter of any correspondence is also open and transparent."

Sutherland, an Irishman, is regarded by many observers of EU affairs as the most successful of all those commissioners who used their stint with the Union's executive as a springboard for a business career.

Since leaving Brussels, he was director-general of the World Trade Organization and its precursor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, in 1993-95.

He is currently chairman of British Petroleum and leading investment banking firm Goldman Sachs.

Sutherland is also a non-executive director of Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson as well as the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Former EU Commissioner Peter Sutherland has come under fire for asking Romano Prodi to help a woman secure employment as 'a favour'.