Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1474369
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 JULY 2022 10 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA THE European Parliament's president Roberta Metsola is fending off pressure from MEPs to back down from a backroom deal to install her head of cabi- net as the European Parliament's next secretary-general. In what is being billed as a power-sharing agreement or- chestrated by the EPP and other groups, the bid to replace out- going secretary-general Klaus Welle with the less qualified Alessandro Chiocchetti, has left political groups and civil serv- ants aggrieved at the done deal. The French journalist Jean Quatremer, of Liberation, pro- duced an uncompromising reveal on Twitter of the saga: Welle, he said, had wielded ab- solute power as the EP's top bu- reaucrat for 13 years by staffing his offices with mainly German co-nationals, and mainly EPP- aligned civil servants; now Met- sola would continue that tradi- tion with Chiocchetti, all with connivance from Renew and the Left, as well as the Greens, who are jockeying to install their fa- voured civil servants in the par- liament's directorate-generals, where bosses earn some €20,000 a month. The move happened last Mon- day at the meeting of the EP's Bureau – the all-powerful deci- sion-making body that includes all political groups' vice-pres- idents – when a new "directo- rate-general for Parliamentary Democracy Partnerships" was approved by Metsola and other political groups. But what the new DG will serve for, exactly, is as yet unclear. The suspicion is that it will carve out a new leadership role for civil servants that will suit other small political groups. The EP already has 12 direc- torates-general, and this new, thirteenth DG could end up overlapping the DG for Exter- nal Policies. As the Brussels newspaper Politico pointed out, such bald political patronage is par for the course in these DGs, whose names "give the sense of redundancies: There's a DG for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences, a separate DG for Translation and yet another DG for Infrastructure and Logistics. Each of those DGs has four di- rectorates with politically ap- pointed, and well-paid, directors who report to the directors gen- eral." Additionally, the same Bureau agreed to open up the secre- tary-general job to people with a lower EU managerial grade, a move critics believe is tailored to facilitate Chiocchetti's applica- tion. The S&D and Greens voted against, but the EPP, Renew and Left overruled them. The six-liner vacancy notice does not even include any formal requirements for the job, and the application deadline of 1 August is a day when the EU institutions traditionally shut down for the summer holidays. Since the role is advertised at AD15 level, one grade below that of the current and past secretaries-general, it would therefore suit Chiocchet- ti's recent promotion to that lev- el. Heidi Hautala, a member of the Bureau and vice-president of Green MEPs, called on Met- sola to reconsider the decision in a letter complaining that the 'unmeritocratic' appointment of her top aide would lose the EP its dignity. "Dear President, I commend your wish to move towards more pluralism in our House, also involving the small- er political groups in the highest positions in the administration. The way things have now un- folded does not cherish what I believe was and should continue to be your vision and your lead- ership. It is not too late to take a step back and see how we can best use the momentum to im- prove ethical standards in our institution." Even Renew MEP Sophie In't Veld, expressed disappointment at her own group's support for an unsuitable candidate whom the Parliament would be stuck with for years. "As long as it is politicised, its composition should at least be politically balanced, rather than the usual EPP-S&D carve-up. But in all cases, it should be merit-based and professional... the creation of a thirteenth DG is preposter- ous." In't Veld pointed out that the Chiocchetti saga has echoes of another secretary-general, Mar- tin Selmayr – the former head of cabinet of Commission pres- ident Jean-Claude Juncker, who was similarly parachuted into the post of EC secretary-gener- al in 2018. Juncker had known over two years in advance of the departure of the outgoing sec- retary-general, so he arranged to have Selmayr interviewed for the vacant post of deputy secre- tary-general and then immedi- ately elevated to the top job. There was greater admonition from Transparency Internation- al EU, where director Michiel van Hulten said that it "beggars belief" that the EP – once so outspoken during the Selmayr- gate's abuse of procedure – now repeats the same error, dubbing it a case of "institutional corrup- tion". As recently as May, the Europe- an Parliament voted in a resolu- tion to call on its secretary-gen- eral "to ensure transparency and fairness during senior manage- ment appointment procedures". The Parliament's staff unions are now rightly up in arms. "We had hoped that under its new President Roberta Metsola, a former co-Chair of the Europe- an Parliament's anti-corruption intergroup who has spoken out forcefully against government corruption in her native Malta, things in the Parliament would be different. By apparently seek- ing to parachute her own Head of Cabinet into the role of Sec- retary-General, and bending the internal rules in the process, the President does herself and her institution no favours," van Hu- ilten said. "When it comes to the Euro- pean Parliament's attitude to transparency and integrity, it seems it's once again 'one rule for them, one rule for us'... such blatant displays of institutional corruption will only serve to fur- ther undermine trust in Europe's legislative assembly." Chiocchetti's name has also garnered criticism from other MEPs who think the former di- rector within the DG for Inter- nal Policies, might be unsuitable to coordinate the massive Parlia- ment, with over 8,000 employ- ees. Chiocchetti was once an as- sistant to Marcello Dell'Utri, the Berlusconi politician convicted and sentenced to prison for sev- en years for his ties to the Sicil- ian mafia. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Metsola under fire over push to have cabinet chief take top EP job Infighting over carve-up of European Parliament's institutional jobs, with MEPs complaining of unmeritocratic appointments Top: Roberta Metsola (right) with Klaus Welle (left at the all-powerful Bureau of the EP Left: Renew MEP Sophie In't Veld has expressed disappointment at her own group's support for an unsuitable candidate whom the Parliament would be stuck with for years "When it comes to the European Parliament's attitude to transparency and integrity, it seems it's once again 'one rule for them, one rule for us'..."