EU Commissioners and Conflicts of Interest

The list of revolving doors cases involving former EU Commissioners has extended in the past years. These stories of former Commissioners joining boards of big private companies, some of them being involved in dramatic recent EU crisis, has heavily affected the reputation of the EU and its institutions. Those situations have brought back the question of conflicts of interests in the debate. How to identify and sanction them? Rules exist, but practice has shown that their efficiency is questionable. Those cases have highlighted the weaknesses of the current regime: lack of transparency, accountability and ability to effectively prevent conflicts of interests. It is not only the inadequacy of the rules that is at stake, but also the lack of political willingness to enforce or reform them. Considering this context, this paper gives a thorough analysis of what are the current rules preventing and sanctioning conflicts of interests for EU Commissioners. It does so by distinguishing the rules that apply to Commissioners before they take office, while they are in office and after they have left their mandate. It aims at giving readers a clear overview of the rules applicable before, during, and after the mandate, provide a critique and solutions on issues such as the cooling-off periods, the ad hoc ethical committee and the investigation means