Institutions and bodies of the Economic and Monetary Union: preventing post-public employment conflicts of interest

12.12.2019

Question for oral answer O-000048/2019
to the Commission
Rule 136
Irene Tinagli
on behalf of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

In the light of the central role of the European Banking Authority (EBA) in regulating European financial markets, it is of the utmost importance that conflict of interest situations involving senior officials are handled appropriately. Unaddressed conflicts of interest might not only compromise the enforcement of high ethical standards throughout European administration, but also jeopardise the right to good administration.

The appointment of the executive director of the European Banking Authority (EBA), Adam Farkas, as the chief executive of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) as of 1 February 2020 has raised concerns in the European Parliament. The EBA Board of Supervisors (BoS) assessed the potential conflict of interest in this case. It acknowledged that there is a conflict of interest and therefore decided to impose certain restrictions on the move. These restrictions were made public on 17 September 2019.

In the light of the above, Parliament would like to ask the Commission:

• 1 Does the Commission deem the restrictions imposed by the EBA sufficient enough to prevent the acknowledged conflict of interest in this case? Does it believe it would have been possible to prohibit the move under the current legal framework? Would such a prohibition have been a proportionate measure?
• 2 Post-public employment or ‘revolving door’ conflict of interest situations are recurring issues and have been assessed and analysed by international and EU bodies, notably the European Ombudsman and the European Court of Auditors. But what action has the Commission taken to implement these recommendations?
• 3 During the debate on this case in Plenary on 24 October 2019, Commissioner Mimica stated that: ‘the Commission considers that its high ethical standards would be best enforced in the European Banking Authority (EBA) and more generally across all the agencies by putting in place a harmonised legal framework. This Commission, and I might also speak on behalf of the incoming European Commission, will also be taking into account the debate and the outcome of this debate here in Parliament when looking at and reviewing the post-employment ethical regulations’. Are any concrete steps expected to be taken to adjust the legal framework? If so, exactly what legislation will be adapted?

Submitted: 12/12/2019

Lapses: 13/03/2020