EU-Commission: Juncker wants tighter ethics rules after Barroso controversy

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said he wants to change the ethics code following outrage over his predecessor's decision to take a controversial job at US investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Jose Manuel Barroso joined the bank after waiting the compulsory 18 months following his exit from the senior EU job but this has sparked wide condemnation and Juncker said in an interview Saturday that he wanted stricter rules now.

"We must change the ethics code," he told Belgium's Le Soir newspaper published Saturday.

Read moreL Flash - Juncker wants tighter ethics rules after Barroso controversy - France 24

Financial Industry: Conflict of Interest? Goldman Sachs hires former EU chief Barroso

Goldman Sachs (GS.N) has hired former European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to be an advisor and non-executive chairman of its international business, the U.S. bank said on Friday, as it grapples with the fallout from Britain’s exit from the European Union.

Barroso served as president of the commission, the EU’s executive arm, from 2004 to 2014 and was prime minister of Portugal from 2002 to 2004, Goldman said in a statement.

Goldman Sachs and other U.S. investment banks are seen as particularly vulnerable to Brexit since they rely on the EU’s “passporting” regime that allows them to offer services across the bloc while basing most of their staff and operations in the UK. Banks have warned that if their British outposts lose their “passports” they will have to move some employees and business units to alternative bases in the EU.

Goldman Sachs International, which Barroso will chair, is headquartered in London and of its roughly 6,000 staff fewer than 1,000 are based outside Britain.

Barroso is credited with helping the euro zone survive the 2009-13 debt crisis by establishing a financial rescue fund, enacting stricter budget rules and tightening financial regulation.

He was also a signatory to the Lisbon Treaty that revamped the bloc’s complex institutions after French and Dutch voters rejected a European constitution.

Barroso will help the firm as it advises clients on dealing with the ensuing “challenging and uncertain economic and market environment,” Goldman Sachs International co-chiefs Michael Sherwood and Richard Gnodde said in the statement.

The question which obviously immediately arises following Mr.Barroso's employment by the US financial giant Goldman Sachs is that of conflict of interest, given the stature former European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso had in the EU and, consequently, the confidential information available to him about EU member nations classified financial and economic data.  
 
Insure-Digest

Brritain: Barosso warns Cameron against 'historic mistake' over EU membership

The UK government and the European Union are on a collision course over Prime Minister David Cameron's plans to curb immigration by renegotiating the the agreement on the free movement of labour.

Jose Manuel Barroso, who will step down next month as president of the European Commission, warned Mr Cameron on Monday that the UK would not even be of "marginal relevance" in the world if his attempted renegotiation led to the UK voting to leave the EU in the referendum promised for 2017.

Speaking at a Chatham House think-tank meeting in London, Mr Barroso said that Mr Cameron would be making an "historic mistake" if he alienated eastern European countries by going ahead with a reported plan to use the tax system to cap the number of low-skilled workers from the EU who could come to Britain.

Acknowledging that there was "widespread concern" in the UK over immigration levels, Mr Barosso said: "The Commission has always been ready to engage constructively in this discussion. But changes to these rules need all countries to agree.

"And it is an illusion to believe that space for dialogue can be created if the tone and substance of the arguments you put forward question the very principle (of the free movement of labour) at stake and offend fellow member states.

"It would be an historic mistake if on these issues Britain were to continue to alienate its natural allies in central and eastern Europe, when you were one of the strongest advocates for their accession."

Mr Barroso said that he appreciated that the Conservatives were being spurred into action by the recent electoral success of the UK Independence Party, but he added: "My experience is that you can never win a debate from the defensive. We saw in Scotland that you actually need to go out and make the positive case. In the same way, if you support continued membership of the EU you need to say what Europe stands for and why it is in the British interest to be part of it.

"Over three-quarters of CBI members want the UK to stay in, because they consider the single market is worth between £62 and £78 billion pounds to the economy. Five out of six City UK members say they do not want to see the UK leave, and the same is true for manufacturers.

Read more: Relocate Magazine - Barosso warns Cameron against 'historic mistake' over EU membership

Gibraltar: Conflict between Britain and Spain

Gibraltar

UK Prime Minister David Cameron today telephoned European Commission President José Manuel Barroso to express his views over developments on Gibraltar.

President Barroso explained that the Commission is continuously monitoring the situation and will do what is in its competence to ensure respect of EU law.

President Barroso also expects that this matter is addressed between the two countries concerned in a way that is in line with their common membership in the EU.

Note EU-Digest:   Gibraltar is located on the tip of Spain, but is a British territory, thanks to the 1714 Treaty at Utrecht that settled the War of the Spanish Succession. Since then, it's been the source of unending tension between Britain and Spain, but tensions really soared last month when Gibraltar created dumped cement blocks into the waters around the enclave, in order to prevent Spanish boats from fishing there. This infuriated Spanish officials, who retaliated by partially blocking the border checkpoint between Spain and Gibraltar, making it almost impossible for people to travel there from Spain, with some officials calling for a return of the "Spanish Armada" to Gibraltar. Britain is now retaliating back by threatening legal action, saying that the border controls are a violation of European Union rules.

Read more: EUROPA - PRESS RELEASES - Press Release - European Commission President's phone conversation with UK Prime Minister on Gibraltar

EU "finally" breaks silence on US snooping scandal - by N.Nielsen

Big Brother is watching EU

A junior EU official on Tuesday (11 June) finally broke the "strange" Brussels' silence on US data snooping, urging Washington not to abuse its "special relationship" with Europe.

Tonio Borg - the Malteste commissioner in charge of health and consumer affairs - told the European Parliament in Strasbourg: "Programmes such as the so-called Prism and the laws on the basis of which such programs are authorised potentially endanger the fundamental right to privacy and the data protection of EU citizens."

He added in off-the-cuff remarks that: "No one should use this special relationship not to obey the law. This is the fine balancing act."

Borg noted on Tuesday that Reding will ask the US for "clarification" on Prism and that she will tackle the scandal with EU interior ministers on 13 June and with MEPs on 19 June.

But some MEPs rounded on him for the absence of top people in Tuesday's debate.

Dutch Liberal Sophie in 't Veld said commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso should have taken a helicopter to Strasbourg given the scale of the affair.

Speaking on Tuesday in plenary, she added that Fisa privacy safeguards do not apply to non-US "foreigners" despite the "special" EU-US ties.

"Foreigners - that's us, that's European citizens," she said.

Read more: EUobserver.com / Justice & Home Affairs / EU breaks silence on US snooping scandal

EU chief Barroso won’t go to Ukraine for the Euro 2012 championships over rights concerns

The chief of the European Union’s head office will not go to Ukraine during the European soccer championships in June unless there is a swift improvement in the human rights situation there.

Several other top officials in Europe joined EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday in piling the pressure on the leadership in Kiev in support of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Barroso announced he will follow the lead of EU’s Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding who also said she would skip the ceremonial Euro2012 opening on June 8.

The tournament, Europe’s most important soccer championship for national teams, is being co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine from June 8 until July 1.

For more: EU chief Barroso won’t go to Ukraine for the Euro 2012 championships over rights concerns - The Washington Post

EU - Barroso says Europe will avoid return to recession

Europe will not slide back into recession, and the euro remains "strong and resilient", the president of the European Commission has said. Jose Manuel Barroso added that the Commission and national governments were "doing all it takes" to tackle the debt problems in the eurozone area.

S&P now expects the economy across the 17 nations that share the euro to expand 1.7% this year, down from its previous forecast of 1.9%.

For more: BBC News - Barroso says Europe will avoid return to recession