Barroso avoids EC censure over his new job at Goldman Sachs

The former president of the European Commission, Portugal’s José Manuel Barroso, has been cleared by an internal ethics committee of charges of breaking ‘duties of integrity and discression’ when he joined Goldman Sachs in a move that provoked outrage and petition.  

Despite concluding that Barroso technically was in the clear, the committee members agreed that the former president "had not demonstrated the insight that can be expected from someone who held the position that he held for so many years."

The former president of the EC took up the non-executive chairmanship at Goldman Sachs International, primarily to advise the company's customers on Brexit issues.

The eight page committee decision dated on the 26th October and published today, commented on Barroso taking up the post, "..in fact, Mr Barroso should be aware that doing so would lead to criticism and the risk of causing reputational damage to the Commission and to the European Union generally.”

Barroso already has stated that he will not lobby on behalf of Goldman Sachs and wrote to the current EC president, Jean-Claude Juncker, last September, assuring him that "as someone who dedicated his life to a career in public service, including 12 years in the Portuguese government, two years of which as prime minister, and ten years as chairman of the European Commission" he claimed to know "very well what are my responsibilities to the European institutions and, of course, will commit to act with integrity and reserve."

Goldman Sachs International is seen as the exponent of aggressive investment banking and will be forever linked with the onset of the financial crisis. Goldman Sachs also is accused of hiding the true financial situation in Greece and for offering the job to Barroso as a 'thank you' for services rendered.

Barroso also has assured that he will not act as an adviser to Goldman Sachs in relation to the United Kingdom leaving of the European Union, yet in early statements to media after his appointment was announced on 9 July, Barroso said he would do everything in his power to "mitigate the effects "of Brexit on Goldman Sach’s business in London.

A Commission spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, said on Monday that Brussels now will "closely examine the opinion of the Committee before taking a decision on the appropriate measures," to see if Barroso’s current pension and benefits package should be altered.

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