Review of revolving door rules in the Staff Regulations

Publication date: 
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Author: 
ALTER-EU

Review of revolving door rules in the Staff Regulations

Executive summary / policy recommendations: 

ALTER-EU believes that blocking the revolving door, and preventing the detrimental impacts it has on public-interest decision making through the blurring of the interests of the regulated with the regulator, requires:

• A mandatory cooling-off period (or ban) of at least two years for all EU institution staff members entering new posts which involve lobbying or advising on lobbying, or any other role which provoke a conflict of interest with their work as an EU official;

• Tackling the loopholes in the current rules, including the exclusion of staff on (temporary) contracts;

• Proper scrutiny of all staff joining EU institutions for potential conflicts of interest. Where there is a potential conflict of interest between their old job and their new EU role, those persons must recuse themselves from such matters;

• Ensure sufficient resourcing to be able to investigate and monitor revolving door cases;

• Publish a full and updated list of all revolving door cases on EU institutions’ websites.

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