Transparency International EU and other civil society organisations are today calling upon the European Commission to rescind the appointment of Markus Pieper MEP as the EU’s SME Envoy, as well as launch an investigation into possible breaches of the Commissioner’s Code of Conduct.
Our initial reaction to the appointment deplored the apparent favouring of Pieper over two female candidates who had scored higher than he had on the Commission’s own recruitment tests. This contravenes the Commission’s own recruitment principles which stipulate that senior appointments must be based on merit, gender balance and geographical balance.
Nick Aiossa, Director at Transparency International EU, said, “Outperformed by two female candidates, it’s completely unclear why Markus Pieper was appointed, besides being from President von der Leyen’s political party. To restore trust, the appointment needs to be rescinded and a transparent new recruitment procedure, free from potential conflicts of interest, needs to be carried out.”
Read the letter in full here.