Political campaign by EU officials
20.11.2019
Question for written answer E-003906/2019
to the Commission
Rule 138
Markus Buchheit (ID)
In October 2019, a group of EU officials published a petition in which officials take a political position on the climate issue. The title of the document is ‘Act NOW on the climate and ecological emergency! Petition from EU staff to the incoming leaders of the EU institutions’.
The document was published on the internet [1] and is thus visible to all. In addition, a group of officials manages the website https://eustaff4climate.info/, through which it canvasses support for their petition, and communicates via an official Commission email account (EU-staff4climate@ec.europa.eu).
The officials explicitly refer to their position as officials of the EU institutions. Thus, there can be no question of a private expression of opinion.
- 1.Does the Commission agree that this publication contradicts the required neutrality of EU staff?
- 2.Has this publication been approved by the Commission?
- 3.What measures does the Commission intend to take against the publication if it has not been approved?
- [1] https://graspe.eu/document/grasp36.pdf.