Günther OETTINGER, Member ofthe EC in charge of Budget and Human Resources, is quizzed on Martin Selmayr’s appointment as Commission Secretary-General at a public hearing organised by the Budgetary Control Committee (CONT) in the EP in Brussels. This will feed into a resolution to be voted on by the whole Parliament on April 19. Statement Günther OETTINGER, Member of the EC in charge of Budget and Human Resources, Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI), Inés AYALA SENDER (S&D, ES), Anders Primdahl VISTISEN (ECR, DK) and Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ALDE, NL).

Brussels

exchange of views

GERBRANDY, Gerben-Jan (ALDE, NL)

interinstitutional relations (T)

Committee on Budgetary Control

VISTISEN, Anders (ID, DK)

OETTINGER, Günther (DE, EC)

SARVAMAA, Petri (EPP, FI)

AYALA SENDER, Inés (S&D, ES)

Integrity policy of the Commission, in particular the appointment of the Secretary-General of the European Commission: extracts from the exchange of views with Günther OETTINGER, Member of the EC in charge of Budget and Human Resources

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/18924884/I153033Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

Arrival of Commissioner G&uuml;nther OETTINGER, Member of the EC in charge of  Budget and Human Resources to the COCOBU EP Committee (2 shots)

SOUNDBITE (German), Ingeborg GR&#196;SSLE (EPP, DE), Chair of the EP Committee on Budgetary Control , What we are looking at is the shortfalls in terms of transparency due to the public nature of this nomination, we are very concerned about that. Commissioner we would like to hear from you also about how this procedure will take place in the future. You have the floor.

SOUNDBITE (German), G&#252;nther OETTINGER, Member of the EC in charge of Budget and Human Resources, Every institution has the duty and the right to choose the best candidate for the job and institutions have to respect one another in these decisions and appointments without any influence taken from outside.

SOUNDBITE (English), Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI), To us the question is whether the lack of transparency in this case in the appointment procedure of Mr Selmayr, did compromise integrity? This is a very important definition. Is one thing to lack total transparency, which regrettably seems to be the case here, and another thing to compromise integrity.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), In&#233;s AYALA SENDER (S&amp;D, ES), We are keen on the fact that nobody in the Commission would lie to this Parliament. That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m asking what did exactly happen? In which way it happened that the head of Cabinet of President Juncker, which had the information (of the resignation of Mr Italianer) at the beginning of the legislative period, and got the same information right before all decisions were taken?

SOUNDBITE (English), Anders Primdahl VISTISEN (ECR, DK), How do you think it plays in the public perception and for the reputation of the European Commission that we have the highest senior civil servant in the European institutions openly going to party meetings of the party that Mr Juncker and yourself is a member of?

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ALDE, NL), The reputation of the European Union is seriously damaged by this appointment. And in response to our questions we hear a sort of &lsquo;Trumpian&rsquo; denials that nothing has happened but please read the newspapers! This is going to have an impact and overshadow the European elections next year.

SOUNDBITE (German), G&uuml;nther OETTINGER, Member of the EC in charge of Budget and Human Resources, First and foremost, it is a technical decision but it is also a political decision. In the most important tasks and the management levels, the President needs people who he can rely upon and who he can have trust in. Alongside administrative tasks, besides completing these, the relevant person also needs to be able to lead the department properly, but also politically.

SOUNDBITE (German), G&uuml;nther OETTINGER, Member of the EC in charge of Budget and Human Resources, If you launch the reproach that there has been something uncorrect, then I would like to ask you to precisely specify the exact page, question, answer, sentence, letter where Commission has allegedly lied; because lying is not his way of doing politics, and Commission cannot be pictured as liar. There is nothing about lying here.