Accusation of favoritism
CDU politician Pieper renounces EU position
April 16, 2024, 2:24 a.m
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The promotion of a party friend puts the head of the EU Commission in need of explanation. The EU Parliament suspects favoritism. While von der Leyen wants to hold on to Markus Pieper, he is now withdrawing.
The German CDU politician Markus Pieper is resigning from his position as the EU Commission’s representative for small and medium-sized companies after severe criticism of his appointment. The authority, headed by Ursula von der Leyen, announced this late in the evening in Brussels. “The President respects and regrets Markus Pieper’s decision not to take up his position as SME representative on April 16 as planned,” said a spokesman for von der Leyen. There will now be a new edition of the selection process, but only after the European elections in June.
The European Parliament had previously asked the EU Commission to reverse Pieper’s appointment because of suspicions of favoritism. A motion written by the Greens, Social Democrats and Liberals was approved in plenary session on Thursday with 382 votes. 144 MPs voted against it, 80 abstained. The reason for their move was that the MPs cited doubts as to whether Pieper’s appointment took into account “the principles of performance, gender balance and geographical balance”.
The Commission President was indirectly accused of having specifically chosen a party friend in Pieper. The motion also called on the Commission to initiate “a truly transparent and open process” for the selection of the commissioner. The background to the allegations is, among other things, that in the initial phase of the application process, two applicants from Sweden and the Czech Republic were rated better than the 60-year-old Pieper. The CDU politician, who comes from Münsterland, only prevailed in the selection interviews.
Monthly salary of 18,000 euros
Von der Leyen’s spokesman emphasized again in the evening that Pieper was a proven expert for SMEs who had prevailed in a multi-stage selection process. He also emphasized that the freedom of choice of all EU institutions in selecting their own senior management positions must be respected. According to the commission, Pieper was actually supposed to take up the post in grade AD 15 this week. According to the EU salary table, he would then have received a basic monthly salary of more than 18,000 euros.
The commission emphasized last week that there were no plans to reverse the personnel decision. According to her, all rules were followed during the selection process. Pieper’s party friends and spokespersons for the EU Commission reject the suspicion of favoritism as completely unfounded. They see behind the MPs’ actions a political campaign against von der Leyen, who wants to be re-elected as EU Commission President after the European elections in June. This is supported by the fact that EU commissioners from the ranks of the now critical party families did not take advantage of the opportunity to object in the internal authority procedure, it is said.