Surprisingly and at short notice, the EU Commission has appointed Martin Selmayr, the current Head of Cabinet of Jean-Claude Juncker as Secretary-General of the EU Commission’s General Secretariat.
MEP Sven Giegold, rapporteur for transparency, accountability and integrity in the EU institutions, said:
“The appointment of Martin Selmayr to the EU Commission’s most important post must be examined by Parliament. Today, we Greens ask in the Budget Control Committee for an investigation into this cloak-and-dagger operation. The procedures for appointing top officials should be put under scrutiny.
The allocation of top positions in public institutions without an open tender is a bad habit. Avoiding open tenders favours those best known over the best capable. It is time for open tenders to become the standard everywhere, especially for the most important positions. It is also unacceptable to put important staffing decisions on the agenda of the College of Commissioners without proper advance.”