After a lively hearing with Commissioner Günther Oettinger the budgetary control committee of the European Parliament has put forward a tough draft resolution on the appointment of Martin Selmayr. As a consequence of the hearing the resolution criticizes in unambigious terms the intransparent appointment procedure and calls for change. The resolution is now open to amendments by all political groups until the 5th of April. It will have to be voted by the committee and by the plenary of the Parliament.
Sven Giegold, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on „Transparency, integrity and accountability of the EU institutions“ comments:
“The Commission has violated the spirit of the staff regulations. There was no very exceptional case to justify that the priniciple of transparency was ignored in the appointment of Selmayr. The draft resolution is a slap in the face of Günther Oettinger who failed to admit a grain of a mistake during the appointment procedure.
Intransparent appointments have to stop in all EU institutions. Greens will continue to press for open and transparent staff appointments on all levels of government. We call on all political groups in the Parliament to apply the same high standards also in their parliamentary appointments as we demand them from the Commission. Equally the public outrage over the appointment of a top European official should make everyone demand the same standards for top appointments to the public services in the member states”.
The draft resolution can be read here: https://sven-giegold.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/motion_BUDG_selmayr_1149163EN.pdf