EU conflict of interest rewrite fails to impress NGOs

(BRUSSELS) - The European Union's executive branch plans to revamp its conflict of interest rules for former top officials who take up plum private sector jobs but it failed to impress anti-corruption watchdogs.

The European Commission proposes to explicitly bar former commissioners from taking part in any lobbying activities related to the work they did for Brussels.

The new rules would also require former officials to inform the commission about job offers for 18 months from the current 12-month period. A panel reviews the offers for potential conflicts of interest but a former official can take up the job before a ruling is issued.

Current commissioners would be barred from hiring their spouses or partners in their cabinet, and stricter rules would be imposed on accepting invitations from private interests.

The proposals submitted to the European Parliament failed to impress the anti-corruption group ALTER-EU, which called them "half-measures" that will "not end revolving doors scandals around former EU commissioners".

The notification period should be extended to three years, the same period during which chief former commissioners still get part of their salaries from Brussels to help them ease back into the private sector.

The EU pays ex-commissioners between 40 and 65 percent of their old salaries, which start at 20,300 euros (27,000 dollars) per month, to ease life after Brussels, even after they join the private sector.

This system has been heavily criticised in the wake of a wave of austerity across Europe.

A European Commission spokesman, Michael Mann, defended the proposed reform.

"We have a code of conduct that already works well, it will work even better after this reform," he said.