Rules on the way to stop Prodi-style electioneering

By David Cronin

Date: 02/09/04

JOSE Manuel Barroso, the president designate of the European Commission, will decide if electioneering by members of his team clashes with their work for the EU executive under a new code of conduct.

While much of this code is similar to the one drawn up for Romano Prodi's Commission when it took office in 1999, it contains new provisions on party political activities by commissioners in their home countries and on improving financial management within the institution.

The code reflects criticism of Prodi for his campaigning before the June European elections, when he criss-crossed Italy to appear at rallies for the centre-left Olive Tree alliance.

But it stops short of banning commissioners from going on the hustings. Instead, it states that commissioners intending to take part in an election campaign shall inform the Commission president of the precise role they will play.

"The president, taking into account the particular circumstances of the case, shall decide on whether the envisaged participation in the election campaign is compatible with the performance of the commissioner's duties," it adds.

The code draws a distinction between campaigning for a political party and contesting a poll as a candidate.

In the latter case, a commissioner is required to step aside from the work of the EU executive for the duration of a campaign if he or she intends to "play an active role" in it.

In the outgoing Commission, then social affairs chief Anna Diamantopoulou withdrew from the executive to head a list for the Greek Socialist party PASOK in a national poll earlier this year.

She then resigned her Commission post when she was elected to the national parliament in March.

But neither Viviane Reding nor Philippe Busquin decided to halt their Commission work in the run up to the European Parliament election, which they contested in Luxembourg and Belgium respectively.

Meanwhile, the new code fleshes out the precise rules on contacts between the commissioners and the directors-general answerable to them.

These provisions follow the severe mauling which Pedro Solbes, then the economic and monetary affairs chief, received from MEPs last year when he claimed that he had not been told of financial irregularities in Eurostat by Yves Franchet, then the head of the Commission's statistics arm.

According to the code, "working arrangements and information channels" between a commissioner's cabinet and the director-general dealing with the relevant portfolio shall be laid down in the first month of the new executive's term in office.

A "strategic meeting" between the commissioner and the director-general in his or her policy field should be held once a fortnight "at the very least", while meetings on internal control and auditing within the DG concerned should be held twice a year.

And the code says that when a commissioner takes office, he or she must be informed of "serious situations" in the relevant DG which have arisen in the past.

Information on fresh difficulties which arise in the DG must be immediately forwarded to the commissioner, it adds.

Existing rules on commissioners' financial interests have been reintroduced into the new code.

These require commissioners to declare their interests, or those of their spouses, which might "create a conflict of interests in the performance of their duties"

Incoming Agriculture Commissioner Marianne Fischer-Boel has come under fire from political opponents in her native Denmark over her ownership of a 204-hectare fruit and flower farm.

Although her holding received l80,000 in EU subsidies in 2003, lawyers at the Commission have decided that there is no conflict of interests. Fischer-Boel claims that her husband takes care of running the farm, including the use of subsidies

Article discusses the new code of conduct for members of the European Commission, especially their taking part in national election campaigns.

European Commission: Commissioners: Barroso: Code of conduct http://ec.europa.eu/comm/commissioners/barroso/pdf/conduct_en.pdf

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