The Good Lobby, an NGO committed to creating a more transparent, accountable, and responsible lobbying environment, announced yesterday that it will be launching a formal complaint to the European Ombudsman, in partnership with Transparency International EU, over the European Parliament’s late-night decision on September 12 to rush through a package of top job appointments, including the post of Secretary-General and several Directors-General.
Before the summer, it emerged that a secret backroom deal had been agreed upon between a number of EP political groups to secure the appointment of the EPP’s Alessandro Chiocchetti, Head of President Metsola’s private office, as the new Secretary-General of the European Parliament. In return, the other political groups allegedly were promised to be rewarded with appointments of their own.
Professor Alberto Alemanno, Founder of The Good Lobby, says: “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. Our complaint attempts at filling up this gap”
Transparency International EU spoke out against this proposed deal at the time, calling it a case of institutional corruption, and called for the process to be halted and restarted in a transparent and accountable manner.
The European Parliament itself has previously attacked the European Commission over a similar fast-tracking of the appointment of Juncker Head of Cabinet Martin Selmayr as Commission Secretary-General. That process was found by the European Ombudsman to have been deeply flawed.
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SEE ALSO:
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EURACTIV | Transparency groups decry ‘late-night’ deal on EU Parliament’s new top officials
EURACTIV |La nomination du secrétaire général du parlement européen dans le viseur des ONG anti-corruption
euobserver | ‘Rushed’ EP secretary-general pick sparks legal complaint
The Brussels Times | ‘Bad for transparency’: EU Parliament’s ‘late-night’ deal on new top positions condemned
swissinfo.ch | Denuncian ante Defensora Pueblo UE el nombramiento del secretario general PE