Conflicts of interest: the Director General of the EU Commission who owns a hotel in Bali…
The executive body of the European Union requires all employees to have their "outside activities" scrutinized, in an attempt to identify any conflicts of interest before they become a problem. Too bad that someone forgets about it and then actually carries out other activities
For example, start investing in the property of a luxury hotel in Bali, forgetting to declare it.
In 2009, Gert Jan Koopman did just that, she bought the luxurious Munduk Moding Plantation Nature Resort & Spa. Too bad Koopman wasn't a hotelier, but was, is, one of the highest-ranking European Commission officials in Brussels.
At the time, the facility only had five guest rooms. But over the next decade Koopman, head of the powerful enlargement division of the European executive's DG NEAR, and his family developed the resort into a world-class destination, billed as an "eco-luxury resort". renowned for its infinity pool. After all, the manager certainly has excellent contacts…
During this time, Koopman and his family – who at one point took over ownership – visited the hotel regularly, were in frequent contact with its managers and approved the developments, according to statements by the European Commission, the hotel website and local media articles. As recently as April 2022, they met with local authorities to discuss helping local businesses in the event of a pandemic.
However, Koopman has never had to inform his employer, the European Commission, in Brussels, despite conflict-of-interest rules requiring all employees to disclose – and get clearance for – all “outside activities” .
The reason, according to the Commission, is that outside ownership is not considered to be “doing” something.
"Owning is not considered an outside activity, as it does not involve 'doing something' (a business) in the sense of investing an amount of time that could impact the performance of work duties," the spokesperson said.
Obviously this is a ridiculous regulation: the manager and his family owned the resort 100% developed it and, even if the management is apparently entrusted to someone else, his interest in the management is immediately understandable. When you dealt with the Indonesian authorities, did you hide your important role in the EU as Director General? How much did your decision-making weight weigh in relations with authorities and suppliers?
There has been talk, quite rightly, of Berlusconi's conflicts of interest, but how many other even more insidious conflicts of interest are there at a European level, well hidden and not investigated?
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The article Conflicts of interest: the Director General of the EU Commission who owns a hotel in Bali… comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/conflitti-di-interesse-il-direttore-generale-della-commissione-ue-che-e-proprietario-di-un-lalbergo-a-bali/ on Thu, 15 Jun 2023 16:16:15 +0000.