Study rejects single ethical rulebook for EU officials

Officials working for the European institutions are regulated “more strictly” than their counterparts at national level, reveals a study carried out by the European Institute of Public Administration in Maastricht. The study recommends tightening ethical rules in each institution rather than a one-size-fits-all solution.

However, “great differences exist” as to the rules and standards of professional ethics for officials within the different EU institutions themselves, the study found.

Published on 11 December, the study is part of Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas’s Transparency Initiative and was requested in 2006 by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors (BEPA), affiliated to the EU executive. 

Entitled “Regulating Conflicts of Interest for Holders of Public Office in the European Union”, it questions whether creating a common ‘register of interest’ for all the EU institutions based on those in operation at national level is feasible considering that there is “no ideal type of conflict of interest system”. 

It concludes that “creating too many and too restrictive rules may become counterproductive”, and instead calls upon member states to focus on the implementation and enforcement of national rules currently in practice to address the issue. 

Moreover, its authors are “sceptical” as to whether it is possible to establish a common model for the regulation of conflicts of interest at EU level, warning that cultural differences mean offering universal or regional models for what to disclose in a register of interest is “extremely difficult”. 

The study concludes that the different EU institutions should have “their own specific rules and standards” for conflict of interest regulation that “fit their […] institutional needs and particularities”, because the roles and powers of the officials working there are “too diverse”. 

However, it does propose creating an “inter-institutional code” containing general principles and obligations to which all EU institutions, as well as those in the member states, could aspire. Such a code would stipulate that conflicts of interest be resolved “in favour of the public interest”. 

Specifically, it describes the conflict of interest infrastructure in place in the Commission and European Central Bank as “relatively sophisticated”, but advises the Court of Justice and Parliament to adopt a code of conduct involving “proper minimum rules and standards”. 

Reacting to the study, the Commission said it would “continue to ensure that ethical rules are enforced [and] periodically reviewed, and that a strong and coherent ethical culture is put in place across the Commission”. The survey proves that the Union’s institutions are regulated “more intensively” than their national counterparts, it added. 

The study examined the regulation of professional ethics in the Commission, Parliament, Court of Auditors, Court of Justice, European Central Bank and European Investment Bank, as well as their national equivalents in the member states. 

Officials in the EU institutions as well as five institutions in each member state were asked whether – and how – they regulate various conflict of interest issues in a series of 19 questions. 

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