Two leading transparency NGOs have tabled a formal complaint to the European Ombudsman in protest at what they described as a “late-night decision on 12 September to rush through a package of top job appointments”, including the post of the secretary-general and several directors-general.
The deal by the Parliament’s bureau, which includes President Roberta Metsola and the Parliament’s 14 vice-presidents, includes the appointment of Alessandro Chiocchetti, currently the head of Metsola’s cabinet, as the assembly’s next secretary general, the top civil servant in the Parliament.
The protest has been brought by The Good Lobby and Transparency International.
Critics say that Chiocchetti had the least administrative experience of the four shortlisted candidates and that the manner of his appointment is reminiscent of the nepotism that saw Martin Selmayr, former Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s chief aide, being parachuted into the post of the EU executive’s secretary general in 2018.
The Selmayr case prompted an inquiry by European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly into the appointment procedure. However, the Ombudsman cannot block appointments and any recommendations it issues can be rejected by the EU institutions.
“Backroom deals such as the nomination of the manifestly least qualified candidate to lead the European Parliament’s administration urgently require greater public and political accountability of European political parties and leaders,” said Professor Alberto Alemanno, founder of The Good Lobby.
“Our complaint attempts at filling up this gap,” he said
Transparency International has previously described the appointment process as “institutional corruption”.
However, Parliament officials have dismissed any comparison with the Selmayr case, stating that all senior positions in the Parliament have been open to officials at grade AD 15 or above for a decade, on the recommendation of the Ombudsman, and that there was a full shortlisting procedure.
Chiocchetti will take over in January from Klaus Welle, who is retiring at the end of 2022 after 13 years on the job.
Although the post is officially that of a politically neutral civil servant, in practice, it has been viewed by the centre-right European People’s Party as a major prize. Welle, a German Christian Democrat, was the head of then-President Hans-Gert Poettering’s cabinet before becoming secretary general.
Chiocchetti, a former official with the Italian EPP delegation, had the support of the EPP group, as well as of the liberal Renew Europe and the Left group, as part of a complicated compromise that keeps the top job with the centre-right group in exchange for the Left getting the leadership role in a newly created directorate general.
The centre-left Socialist and Democrat group and the Greens both opposed the appointment, though officials close to the process told EURACTIV that the S&D group members on the bureau were split 3-2.
The row is embarrassing for the Parliament, which was very critical of the Juncker Commission’s handling of Selmayr’s appointment and has trumpeted the transparency of its own procedures.
In a resolution in May, EU lawmakers voted to call on Parliament’s secretary-general “to ensure transparency and fairness during senior management appointment procedures”.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
Source: euractiv.com
