Barroso
had deeper ties to Goldman Sachs
By ALEKSANDRA
ERIKSSON
BRUSSELS, 26. SEP,
11:15
Jose Manuel Barroso
had closer contact with Goldman Sachs during his tenure as European
Commission chief than he has previously admitted, according to
Portuguese media.
Correspondence
obtained by Portuguese daily Publico under a freedom of information
request suggests that Barroso, who took a job with the US bank
earlier this year, held unregistered meetings with Goldman's top
people.
In one email dated
30 September 2013, Goldman boss Lloyd Blankfein thanked Barroso for
their “productive discussions” and said the bank’s senior
partners were delighted about their “extremely fruitful meetings”.
Publico reported
that Goldman executives were happy to suggest “on a confidential
basis” changes to EU policies, which Barroso’s cabinet read “with
great interest”.
The newspaper also
found that one of Barroso’s advisers was “unfavourable” to
putting down in the commission’s records meetings between his boss
and the bank.
Filing meetings
between EU top officials and interest representatives was not
mandatory at the time, so Barroso’s meetings were registered only
when his cabinet deemed it suitable.
Barroso told Publico
in a written statement he kept in touch with major banks as part of
his job as president of the EU executive in a time of financial
crisis.
“This was not only
to understand the market sentiment, but also to pass clear messages
on the position of the Commission and the European Union,” he
wrote.
The European
Commission has so far not commented on these revelations.
The Portuguese
politician also complained of discrimination on Friday (23
September), during his first meeting with journalists since the
announcement of his new job.
Revolving doors
Nine of 26
commissioners that left office in 2014 have since taken up positions
in organisations with links to big business, according to Corporate
Observatory Europe, a transparency campaign group in Brussels.
In one example,
former antitrust and digital agenda boss Neelie Kroes took up a job
in May with Uber, a tech firm that she vocally supported while in
office.
Barroso’s
successor Jean-Claude Juncker claimed over the summer that Barroso
had followed the rules, but that there was a political problem in his
choice of employer.
Goldman Sachs traded
complex financial instruments around subprime mortgages, helping to
cause the 2007 global financial crisis. The bank also helped Greece
to conceal its debt figures, complicating the subsequent EU sovereign
debt crisis.
The bank is known
for cultivating close ties with politicians, which earned it the
nickname 'Government Sachs'.
Former commissioner
Mario Monti took up a job at Goldman after leaving the commission,
and was Goldman's international adviser when he was appointed as
Italy's prime minister in 2011.
The current
president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, also
worked for the bank prior to becoming the governor of the Bank of
Italy and then taking up the ECB post.
The EU Commission
has defended its code of conduct as “the world’s strictest”.
At a time of high
public mistrust in the EU institutions, it has taken some steps to
tighten up its rules - including making it mandatory to register all
meetings between officials and interest representatives.
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