Relationship between George Soros and the Commission
23.1.2019
Question for written answer P-000308-19
to the Commission
Rule 130
Andrea Bocskor (PPE)
According to the public calendar of Members of the Commission[1], in the past four years George Soros has had at least 15 face-to-face meetings with the President, the First Vice-President and other Vice-Presidents of the Commission, as well as Commissioners.
According to lobbyfacts.eu[2], lobbyists from one of George Soros’s NGOs, the Open Society European Policy Institute, had at least 49 meetings with senior Commission officials (Commissioners, members of Cabinets and Directors-General) between 2014 and 2018. In recent years, therefore, George Soros and his lobbyists have held a total of at least 64 meetings with senior Commission officials. No Head of State or Government of any EU Member State had the opportunity to directly consult the Commission’s leadership on so many occasions.
According to the public calendar of Members of the Commission, on 31 May 2017 Commissioner Christos Stylianides received George Soros for a face-to-face meeting.
In relation to that meeting I would like to ask:
- —Who proposed it and why was it arranged?
- —What was discussed during the meeting?
- —Does the Commission consider it appropriate for a person who has no political mandate based on democratic elections and who is a well-known businessman to be allowed to consult the Commission’s most senior officials so frequently?