RevolvingDoorWatch cases
Mårten Westrup
Nationality: Sweden
Former employer: DG Enterprise (for 27 months), Policy officer and Legal officer
Date: December, 2009
New employer: BusinessEurope, Adviser - Industrial Affairs Committee (climate change)
The Commission did not examine Westrup’s job move under the revolving door rules. This is due to a decision by the Commission to exempt contract staff from some elements of the Staff Regulations. According to the Commission, Westrup did not have access to “sensitive information” during his time at the European Commission, which meant that he did not require the Commission’s permission to go through the revolving door.
During his time at BusinessEurope, Mr Westrup lobbied former colleagues at DG Enterprise on proposals for the emissions trading scheme.In October 2011, ALTER-EU submitted a complaint to the European Commission about the way in which it has handled this revolving door case. More information is available in the ALTER-EU report: Block the revolving door - why we need to stop EU officials becoming lobbyists: http://www.alter-eu.org/revolving-doors
Mårten Westrup
Nationality: Sweden
Former employer: BusinessEurope, Adviser - Industrial Affairs Committee (climate change)
Date: June, 2011
New employer: DG Energy, Energy policy & monitoring of electricity, gas, coal and oil markets
There are no clear revolving door rules and procedures which concern staff who join the EU institutions. Article 11 of the Staff Regulations covers personal or private conflicts of interest for current staff although it is a far from water-tight rule. The Commission has told CEO that, under Article 11, Mr Westrup under his "own initiative" emailed the human resources department of DG Energy to "discuss any potential conflicts of interest". They replied that "no such conflicts exist".
"This is Mr Westrup's second spin through the revolving door. In the last two years he has worked for DG Enterprise, BusinessEurope and now DG Energy and this has been pretty much unregulated by the Commission. Firstly, when he moved to BusinessEurope he was considered exempt from the rules because he was contract staff. When he returned to the Commission it appears that there was no specific and proactive procedure for the Commission to follow to assess his revolving door move. This case shows the urgent need to revamp the revolving door rules so that any risk of potential conflicts of interest with contract staff and / or those who join the EU institutions are fully investigated and regulated as appropriate".
CEO has asked, under Access to Documents, for the emails referred to above. They have so far refused to release them and CEO has challenged this decision.On 24 November, Mr Westrup spoke on behalf of DG Energy to the media on energy issues.In October 2011, ALTER-EU submitted a complaint to the European Commission about the way in which it has handled this revolving door case. More information is available in the ALTER-EU report: Block the revolving door - why we need to stop EU officials becoming lobbyists: http://www.alter-eu.org/revolving-doors
Corporate Europe Observatory
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is a research and campaign group working to expose and challenge the privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby groups in EU policy making.
"It is a major loophole in the revolving door rules that contract staff are not automatically included. Mr Westrup worked for DG Enterprise for 27 months in significant roles. This move through the revolving door should have been fully scrutinised and we consider that it should have been subject to a cooling off period or ban, especially considering that he was moving to BusinessEurope which is Brussels' largest lobby organisation".