International

On 16th April the Budgetary Control Committee of the European Parliament passed a stern resolution criticising the rapid way in which Martin Selmayr had been appointed Secretary-General of the European Commission, and calling on the Commission itself, among others, to join it in condemning the appointment.

The resolution must now be passed by the whole European Parliament in plenary, but before the plenary vote on 18 April, SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong presented, along with the Greens, three proposed amendments:

1. The European Commission must at last recognise that the procedure they followed in making this appointment has damaged their image, as has their manner of communicating this to the media, the European Parliament and the general public throughout the European Union.
2. The Commission must not only revise the appointment procedure, but until this is completed, they must request that Selmayr voluntarily renounce the use of the title Secretary General.
3. The European Parliament must itself set a good example by ending political appointments, beginning with the EP president withdrawing his proposed list of nine directorial appointments and the EP Secretary General establishing an action plan to prevent political appointments being made in the future. As soon as the results of the votes are known, this statement will be updated and everyone will be able to see to what extent the EP is serious about this issue. After that, it will be up to the Commission itself to act. They will in any case have to take the resolution seriously if they wish to avoid a direct confrontation with the EP.