Wallström blast as Currie goes nuclear

Date: 14/03/02

By Laurence Frost

THE European Commission is investigating the ex-environment director-general Jim Currie over a possible conflict of interests, after he accepted a directorship with British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) within four months of leaving his job in Brussels.

Margot Wallström, the environment commissioner, said a letter had been sent to Currie asking him to 'clarify his situation' after he took up the €32,000 non-executive directorship on 1 March.

Barely concealing her ire, the commissioner told MEPs in Strasbourg how she had only learned of Currie's new job through the media.

She said she felt it necessary to remind him of his obligations under the staff regulations, which state that officials must exercise integrity and discretion when accepting new jobs.

Wallström's spokesman Pia Ahrenkilde said yesterday that the commissioner was 'worried there might be a conflict of interests'.

Currie's move is a major embarrassment to the Commission and raises awkward questions about its contacts with companies such as BNFL, as well as Currie's future role in the firm.

Wallström's environment department began investigating levels of radioactive discharges from the BNFL-owned Sellafield plant on Britain's north-west coast almost two years before the Scottish director-general's departure last October.

Currie's main role at BNFL would be 'to give advice to the board', a spokesman for the company said. 'There's no conflict of interests - the appointment has been made within all the appropriate rules.'

But Eric Mamer, spokesman for Staff Commissioner Neil Kinnock, said Currie's failure to report his move to BNFL may breach EU rules on confidentiality and conflicts of interest.

'We would have expected Currie to make contact with us before taking this kind of job,' he said. 'But he didn't.'

Articles 16 and 17 of existing staff regulations compel officials to exercise integrity and discretion when accepting new positions and to respect the confidentiality of facts and information gained during EU office.

Guidelines are currently issued to outgoing senior officials advising them that in order to fulfil these obligations, they should notify the Commission of any new developments.

If Currie's appointment is found to break the rules, the Commissioon has the power to ask the European Court of Justice to stop the severance payments of around €100,000 a year awarded under his early retirement deal.

But one Commission official said it was more likely Currie would first be asked to promise 'to refrain from certain types of activity' in the new job.

Monica Frassoni, president of the Green/EFA group in the European Parliament, said it was 'pretty disturbing that somebody who was supposed to be one of the highest defenders of EU environmental laws is now going to work for the nuclear lobby'.

'This shows that the Commission's commitment to environmental policy is quite shaky,' the Belgian MEP said. 'It's becoming increasingly clear that [Wallström's] priority is to have agreements with industry.'

Currie is not the first Commission official to raise eyebrows with his choice of career after leaving Brussels.

Martin Bangemann, the German telecoms commissioner in the Santer regime ousted in 1999, was forced to delay taking up a lucrative post with Spanish telecom giant Telefonica after EU ministers threatened legal action.

However experts say Andrew Cahn, head of cabinet for Neil Kinnock during his time as transport commissioner, demonstrated the correct approach when he informed the Commission before accepting a job with British Airways in 2000, and volunteered a list of ethical commitments.

Proposals by Commissioner Kinnock to be put to EU foreign ministers next month would include a new blanket obligation on all officials to report new appointments within two years of leaving.

Attempts to contact Currie, who also holds a non-executive directorship with the Royal Bank of Scotland, were unsuccessful.

The European Commission is investigating the former environment director-general Jim Currie over a possible conflict of interests, after he accepted a directorship with British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) within four months of leaving his job in Brussels.