Sylvie Goulard was to play a key role in the new EU Commission as Internal Market Commissioner, but the MEPs dropped the candidate for France's President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday. Not only Macron is now duped there, the future Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has suffered even before taking office, the first major defeat.
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But after Goulard's rejection, MEPs now have a fresh debate about their sometimes extremely lucrative side jobs: the Greens demand that the amount of additional earnings be strictly limited in the future.
Because such a part-time job was one of the reasons why Parliament rejected Goulard as Internal Market Commissioner. During her time as MEP between October 2013 and January 2016, the Frenchwoman received more than € 10,000 a month as a consultant to a think tank of the German-American billionaire Nicolas Berggruen. Around 350,000 euros came together in total.
Proposal for new rule: Do not earn more than 15 percent
At the hearings, Goulard had pointed out that, firstly, that activity had been registered and, secondly, legal. And indeed, the partly polemical criticism in the hearings had a bland connotation, because well-paid part-time jobs are widely used in the EU Parliament.
The work of the parliament is by no means puny paid: The basic salary of currently € 8757.70 gross can be easily driven into five-digit areas thanks to various allowances.
The Brussels Green MP Daniel friend now calls to cover the amount of extra earnings. In the future, they should not exceed 15 percent of the basic salary - ie currently more than 1300 Euro. This should apply to all paid activities, specifically to posts in committees or boards of companies or NGOs.
In addition, parliamentarians should in future be prohibited from accepting any sums of money or valuables for public performances or contributions. Exempted would be only travel reimbursements and gifts up to a value of 150 euros.
According to the friend, the new regulation would affect between 63 and 137 MEPs, whose additional earnings exceed the parliamentary salaries by 15 percent. The large margin arises because MEPs only have to give a rough indication of the amount of their extra earnings. The fact that this income even exceeds the diets in up to 48 cases, calls friend as "worrying": "How can one be sure that MEPs represent the interests of the citizens and not a company or a lobby?"
Role model US Congress
The case Goulard clearly showed that the practice of part-time jobs must be limited, so friend. Therefore, he has taken the US Congress as a model whose members since 1989 may only earn up to 15 percent of their basic salary per year. "After the Conservatives and Social Democrats have been so critical of Ms. Goulard's extra income," says Freund, "I hope for broad support for my application."
Whether that will come, however, is questionable. "A cap on the additional income will not exist," says about the FDP MEP Moritz Körner. For a majority in the European Parliament is hardly conceivable - and that's a good thing.
"With a cap would risk the diversity of the deputies," says Körner. So only a few entrepreneurs would be willing to go into politics if they had to sell their company beforehand. "But it's good to have these people in Parliament too," says Körner.
However, the activity as a member of parliament must then be the center of attention. "I can not imagine that you can do time-consuming outside jobs if you take your job as an MEP seriously."
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