Commission revamps internal ethics code[fr][de] 

The guidelines are based on the conclusions of a working party on ethics in the EU executive, set up by Administration and Anti-Fraud Commissioner Kallas following an 'Ethics Day' in 2006. 

They were adopted by the College of Commissioners on Wednesday (5 March) and are set to be published on Kallas's website soon.   

The Communication, seen by EurActiv, calls on the EU executive to: 

• Compile a "well-publicised" statement of principles of professional ethics. 
• Introduce compulsory training on ethical issues for certain Commission officials, particularly those "dealing with financial operations". Staff would be required to confirm that they are aware of their ethical obligations by signature. 
• Appoint ethics correspondents for every DG to act as a contact point for staff, working in a network to ensure consistency on ethical issues. 
• Establish a "single, all-embracing" ethics website collecting "all relevant sources of information on ethics," including staff regulations and financial responsibility guidelines. 
• Adopt formal guidelines on favours, gifts and hospitality by 2009. 
• Draw up a check-list, for publication on the ethics website, to help Commission officials to identify conflicts of interest. 

The ethics website would "incorporate and supersede all other existing […] documents or sites" and offer guidance to Commission officials on "all aspects of conflicts of interest which touch on independence and impartiality in the workplace," according to the draft. 

"Meeting the highest standards of professional ethics is of paramount importance with respect to the accomplishment of the institution's tasks and its credibility and reputation," stresses the introduction to Kallas's communication. It adds that "this initiative seeks to refresh awareness and provide better guidance on professional ethics in the Commission". 

But the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU ) believes "the new Communication on ethics is far too weak". It laments the Commission's failure to come up with "clear policies" and "concrete measures" to address conflicts of interest among public office holders and cases of "revolving doors", whereby former Commission staff leave the EU executive to work as lobbyists. 

Moreover, "the Commission is downplaying ethics rules as internal matters, but the issues at stake are of major public concern," claimed Christine Pohl of Friends of the Earth Europe. 

Last month, the Commission strongly refuted an ALTER-EU claim that the lobbyists register would be 'useless' without the names of individual lobbyists or 'meaningful' financial disclosure, calling the criticism 'unfair' (see EurActiv 14/02/08).