After a second round of hearings, the European Parliament has decided to reject French Commissioner-designate Sylvie Goulard for the Internal Market portfolio.
Her candidature was marred by controversy as she faces an investigation for fraud and stands accused of conflicts of interest during her time as MEP.
The Left succeeded in mobilising broad opposition to her confirmation that lead to this decision. Furthermore, GUE/NGL Group has issued a broad call for reform of a system that is broken and has let Brussels officials off the hook when it comes to conflicts of interest and corporate capture.
Leading the fight for ethics and integrity in public office at the EU, the Left’s co-president Manon Aubry (France Insoumise, France) expressed hope that this is only the beginning of a wider push for change.
“We obviously did not vote for Goulard. EU citizens won’t put their trust in their institutions when a Commissioner sees absolutely no problem in making €10,000 a month from a private lobby in addition to her MEP salary. The care of Goulard has shown the inefficiency of the existing assessment procedure for conflicts of interest. This is why GUE/NGL is pushing for the creation of an independent ethics body to solve this problem for good,” explained Aubry.
“We want to bring ethics back to the EU. External remunerations, influence of lobbies, revolving doors, conflict of interest: all of this has to stop!” she concluded.
