An offer he couldn't refuse: ex-Commissioner Gentiloni turns lobbyist
The Commission’s ethics panel says that Gentiloni’s spell as commissioner is “very likely” to benefit his new employer.
Paolo Gentiloni, the former economy commissioner, has started work as a speaker and advisor for a Milan-based consultancy, becoming the latest in a long parade of erstwhile senior officials to cash in on their public service.
Gentiloni, a 70-year-old social democrat with an aristocratic pedigree who also served a stint as Italian prime minister, concluded his five-year term in Brussels in 2024. His new position – at European House Ambrosetti – required the approval of an EU ethics panel, which ruled he should be allowed to join.
He will be paid a fairly modest €30,000 for a one-year contract, which can be renewed. Gentiloni is no stranger to the consultancy, having taken part in the Ambrosetti Forum – an annual economic conference – a few months before leaving office.
EU rules specify that former commissioners must not reveal information they gleaned during their work at the Commission, and that they must not lobby the institution on matters they were in charge of while working in the Berlaymont for a period of two years after leaving office.
The Commission’s independent ethics panel cautioned that Gentiloni’s spell as EU economy chief is “very likely” to benefit his new employer, as he will be advising and speaking on economic topics.
It stipulated some light conditions for approving his job, including handling his contact with former Commission colleagues with “particular care” and barring him from lobbying on any topics he dealt with at the Commission – rather than just economic policy.
Daniel Freund, a German MEP and long-time transparency campaigner, called Gentiloni’s new position “completely absurd” and said it should not have been approved. “This job should have never been authorised during the cooling off period,“ he said.
Euractiv contacted Gentiloni for comment on the new appointment but has yet to hear back.
Gentiloni decision to become a lobbyist is more a rule than an exception. Many former commissioners have followed a similar path, most famously, ex-Commission president José Manuel Barroso, who in 2016 joined Goldman Sachs.
The EU executive also announced Wednesday that Austria’s long-serving former EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn will become the bloc’s special envoy to Cyprus.
Earlier this week Belgian media revealed that Charles Michel, the former European Council chief, is now a visiting professor at the China Europe International Business School.
(jp)
