NGO Transparency International EU has criticised the European Commission candidate audit process, saying it is rushed, superficial and opaque and casting doubt on the process.
“The European Parliament puts potential European Commissioners through rushed, superficial and opaque hearings before giving a green light that barely scratches the surface,” the group said on October 21.
The @Europarl_EN puts potential European Commissioners through rushed, superficial and opaque hearings before giving a green light that barely scratches the surface .
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We've broken down the flawed process for you, and outlined what needs to change ⬇️https://t.co/fzXzx9OOFc
— Transparency International EU (@TI_EU) October 21, 2024
In its report published on October 21, the body argued that the European Parliament does not have the correct tools to audit European Commissioners and prevent corruption.
According to Transparency, members of the EP lacked the time, expertise and legal framework to inquire effectively on issues that may raise concerns.
“MEPs are required to rely solely on the declarations submitted by Commissioners-designate and cannot use external information, such as reports from civil society or journalists. The scrutiny process therefore operates on an honours system that expects all Commissioners-designate to be forthcoming with the information they provide to JURI [Committee on Legal Affairs],” the group said.
The NGO give the example of Wopke Hoekstra, returning Commissioner-designate for climate, net-zero and clean growth, who has continued to refrain from divulging his client portfolio regarding his time working for management consulting giant McKinsey. That is despite him having made a commitment in writing to the European Parliament to release this information.
“Yes. I will liaise with McKinsey if and in what way the list of clients and projects I was involved in or oversaw during my time at McKinsey, can be disclosed in a timely matter,” he said.
Notably, McKinsey publicised that it has advised more than half of the world’s top 20 oil and gas companies, which has raised eyebrows on possible conflict sof interest and intense lobbying from such companies in a European Commission supposed to act safely regarding the EU “green” transition and climate-change goals.
According to Transparency International EU, such a lack of transparency undermined European democracy.
“Not only do conflicts of interest — at best — simply undermine trust in the decision-making process, but they may also jeopardise the decisions taken themselves,” the organisation said.
It argued that the audit of the Commissioner-designate and the upcoming hearings were a political game played with little or no regard for the interests of European citizens.
“The process is therefore also, critically, a political one: with both national and party interests at play within a parliamentary committee, we also cannot expect JURI itself to operate with complete impartiality,” they commented.
“Independent scrutiny is paramount—instead, it’s left to the whims of those impacted by the consequences of scrutiny,” Transparency added.
Similar concerns were raised by the Left group in the European Parliament. Manon Aubry, co-president of the hard-left group, described the situation as a “masquerade”.
🎴 Voici comment les conflits d'intérêt au niveau des institutions 🇪🇺 sont enterrés !
Cette semaine débute l’évaluation des conflits d'intérêts des futurs commissaires par le Parlement 🇪🇺.
Un processus complètement biaisé, opaque & sans pouvoir.
Bref une mascarade. Thread👇 pic.twitter.com/bvs6GkbRw9
— Manon Aubry (@ManonAubryFr) October 2, 2024
“The JURI committee must evaluate candidates based on their declaration of interests but the statements were sent just 3 days before the meeting and processed in just a few minutes. The examination can only be superficial” she said on social media.
The European Commission’s timing for the hearings has also raised questions about the sincerity of the process.
The hearings are set to take place from November 4 to November 12, with the most controversial candidate – Irish Michael McGrath – set to have their hearing coinciding with the US presidential elections.
LEAK: Brussels Signal has obtained the provisional schedule for the European Parliament’s hearings with commissioners-designate from Nov 4-12. Notably, 12 hearings coincide with the US presidential election, including controversial nominees on Nov 5 & 6. https://t.co/XYBKKspG8O
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) October 8, 2024
