BFF-34 EU ombudsman slams hiring process of top Juncker aide

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EU-POLITICS-JUNCKER

EU ombudsman slams hiring process of top Juncker aide

BRUSSELS, Sept 4, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The EU ombudsman on Tuesday savaged the
rushed and murky procedure that saw Commission President Jean-Claude
Juncker’s chief of staff promoted to the body’s top administrative post.

Emily O’Reilly did not criticise Martin Selmayr personally, nor call for
the process to appoint him secretary general of the European Commission to be
re-opened.

But she warned that the members of Juncker’s commission had not followed
their own rules “in letter nor in spirit” when it elevated him in February.

“The Commission created an artificial sense of urgency to fill the post of
Secretary-General in order to justify not publishing a vacancy notice,” the
ombudsman’s office said.

“It also organised a Deputy Secretary-General selection procedure, not to
fill that role, but rather to make Mr Selmayr Secretary-General in a rapid
two-step appointment.”

“All of this risked jeopardising the hard-won record of high EU
administrative standards and consequently, the public trust,” the statement
warned.

Before February, Selmayr was chief of staff to Juncker, the former
Luxembourg premier now serving as Brussels’ most powerful EU official.

Juncker himself has reportedly called his German right-hand man “The
Monster” because of his reputed work ethic, and critics saw him as a power
behind the throne.

Eyebrows were raised when he was abruptly named secretary general — chief
civil servant of the EU’s 30,000-strong executive — with no transparent
hiring process.

But Juncker — and some key EU member states — stood by Selmayr, and he
now seems likely to survive even after a new head of the commission is
appointed next year.

In a scathing report, the ombudsman found the 28-strong College of
Commissioners responsible for “four instances of maladministration” in
Selmayr’s promotion.

O’Reilly urged the Commission to develop a specific and separate
appointment procedure before the next time it seeks a secretary general.

But the report noted that her “investigation did not concern any assessment
of Mr Selmayr, who she understands is both a competent EU official and
committed to the European Union.”

BSS/AFP/MR/ 1410 hrs