Ex-EU Commissioners are still cashing in
Civitas, 29 September 2010
Ex-EU Commissioners are still claiming substantial amounts of money from the EU, despite having left their jobs over a year ago, writes Natalie Hamill. ‘Transitional funds’ of at least €96,000 per year are still being claimed by 17 former Commissioners, most of whom have secured lucrative employment since leaving office in the EU.
The transitional fund is typically 40-65% of the basic salary of a Commissioner (which is around €20,000 per month) and can be claimed by ex-Commissioners for three years so long as the fund plus their income from any new job does not total more than their previous salary as a Commissioner. A spokesman from the EU justified the transitional funds on account that they help Commissioners to ease back into the job market, and that it gives former Commissioners time to secure employment that will not compromise their independence. These are two honourable principles, however it would appear that more than one ex-Commissioner is prepared to ‘milk’ the transitional fund for all it’s worth.
The UK’s Lord Mandelson, who left his post as Commissioner for Trade in 2008, claims more than £8,000 a month. Lord Mandelson recently made £400,000 from sales of his autobiography and he is well established on the press and media circuits, and yet still claims half his Commission salary, at £103,465 a year. Ireland’s Charlie McCreevy, the former Commissioner for the Internal Market, and Malta’s Jo Borg, former Fisheries Commissioner, both claim €11,000 per month. Even Poland’s Danuta Hubner and Belgium’s Louis Michel, who still work for the EU but in a different capacity (as MEPs), claim transitional funds.
Particularly worrying are the examples of Commissioners who are still claiming funds despite having secured the type of competitive jobs the fund is aimed at preventing them from taking. For example, Charlie McCreevy and Günter Verheugen are just two ex-Commissioners currently courting controversy with claims that their new posts represent a ‘conflict of interest’. (The Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) hopes to convince the EU to introduce a 3 year ‘cooling-off’ period for Commissioners who plan to move into lobbying in order to prevent this situation in the future.) The fact that these ex-Commissioners are using the experience and contacts they gained from working in the Commission to enhance their employability in the private sector whilst still claiming the transitional fund (which is designed to prevent Commissioners from taking exactly this kind of job) is astounding, and a clear indication that the regulations need to be tightened.
Like many high-end jobs, employment at the Commission has plenty of perks to attract and reward high calibre candidates, such as the generous pension scheme (pensions are paid yearly after employees reach 65 years of age and total up to 70% of the final salary, depending on how many years employees have spent in the position). However, the EU is ultimately funded by taxpayers, the majority of whom are not impressed to see extremely well paid individuals still receiving EU money when they have left EU employment and are already sat on the top rung of the job market ladder. Dalia Grybauskaite is still claiming transitional funds, and she is now the President of Lithuania!
The EU appears to have lost touch with reality. In these times of austerity it’s disappointing to see some Commissioners ‘twisting’ the spirit of the transitional fund to line their already bulging pockets as the general public are simultaneously urged to ‘tighten their belts’. Whilst it is admirable to support former employees, it must not be done on a ludicrous level and without the public’s consent. The EU should endeavour to strike a better balance between rewarding its former employees, and ensuring the sensible expenditure of taxpayers’ money.