Regulating Conflicts of Interest for Holders of Public Office in the European Union. A Comparative Study of the Rules and Standards of Professional Ethics for the Holders of Public Office in the EU-27 and EU Institutions

Figures and tables......Page 4 Abbreviations......Page 5 1. General observations......Page 7 2. Main empirical findings......Page 10 1. Introduction......Page 13 2. Research question and work assignment......Page 15 3. A network approach: Data collection and data analysis......Page 17 4. The state of literature and studies in the field of comparative conflicts of interests......Page 22 1. Analysing rules and standards in the field of conflicts of interest......Page 25 2. Defining conflicts of interest for Holders of Public Office (HPO)......Page 27 3. Purpose and objectives of rules and standards......Page 32 4. The need for different rules and standards for different HPO......Page 34 4.1. Legislators......Page 35 4.2. Ministers and representatives of Government......Page 39 4.3. Other Holders of Public Office......Page 40 2.1. Country comparisons......Page 42 2.1.1. Regulation density......Page 43 2.1.2. Choice of regulatory instruments......Page 44 2.2.1. Regulation density......Page 48 2.2.2. Choice of regulatory instruments......Page 50 2.3.1. Regulation density......Page 52 2.3.2. Choice of regulatory instruments......Page 56 3.1.1. Regulation density......Page 59 3.1.2. Choice of regulatory instruments......Page 60 3.2.1. Regulation density and choice of instruments......Page 63 1. General......Page 66 2. Empirical results as to registers and financial declarations......Page 70 2.1. Government......Page 72 2.2. Parliament......Page 73 2.3. Supreme Court......Page 74 2.4. Court of Auditors......Page 76 2.5. Central or National Bank......Page 77 3. Registers on financial interests in the EU Institutions......Page 79 1.Introduction......Page 84 2. Structural features – powers, functions and resources......Page 85 3. Statistical results......Page 89 3.1. Government......Page 93 3.2. Parliament......Page 94 3.3. Supreme Court......Page 95 3.4. Court of Audit......Page 97 3.5. Central or National Bank......Page 98 3.6. Ethics commissions in the EU institutions......Page 99 1. Positive aspects of rules and standards in the field of conflicts of interest policies......Page 103 2. Challenges and unintentional side-effects of rules and standards in the field of conflicts of interest policies......Page 106 2.1. Ethics rules and public trust......Page 107 2.2. Ethics rules as a political instrument......Page 108 2.3. Ethics rules as effective instruments in the fight against corruption......Page 109 2.4. Ethics rules and the regulatory quality......Page 110 2.5. Ethics rules, disclosure policies and effectiveness......Page 112 2.6. Ethics rules and costs of a professional ethics regime......Page 113 2.7. Ethics rules and the limits of transparency requirements......Page 114 2.8. Ethics rules and the need for training of HPO......Page 115 3. Are conflicts of interest increasing?......Page 118 1. Introduction......Page 123 2. The diversity of codes......Page 124 3. Compliance-based ethics regimes and integrity-based ethics regimes – a useful concept for the EU?......Page 128 4. “Strict”, “moderate” and “soft” conflicts of interest regimes and models......Page 131 1. Recommendations to the EU Member States......Page 137 2. Recommendations to the EU institutions......Page 138 X. BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 143 ANNEX 1 – QUESTIONNAIRE......Page 147 ANNEX 2 – DATA MATRIX......Page 149 Austria joined the European Union in 1995.......Page 156 In general:......Page 157 Instruments......Page 158 Instruments......Page 159 Members or Directors of the Court of Audit......Page 160 In general:......Page 161 E - Other Conflicts of Interests......Page 162 Instruments......Page 163 General profile......Page 164 D - Post-employment......Page 165 In general:......Page 166 Instruments......Page 167 C - Gifts, missions, travels......Page 168 In general:......Page 169 Instruments......Page 170 Bulgaria is a new Member State of the EU: it joined the EU on 1 January 2007.......Page 171 D - Post-employment......Page 172 D - Post-employment......Page 173 In general:......Page 174 In general:......Page 175 E - Other Conflicts of Interests......Page 176 Instruments......Page 177 Cyprus is a new Member State of the EU: it joined the EU on 1 May 2004.......Page 178 D - Post-employment......Page 179 In general:......Page 180 Instruments......Page 181 C - Gifts, missions, travels......Page 182 Instruments......Page 183 N/A......Page 184 Instruments......Page 185 Members or Directors of the central or National Banks......Page 186 N/A......Page 187 General profile......Page 188 D - Post-employment......Page 189 E - Other Conflicts of Interests......Page 190 D - Post-employment......Page 191 E - Other Conflicts of Interests......Page 192 E - Other Conflicts of Interests......Page 193 Instruments......Page 194 General profile......Page 195 Instruments......Page 196 D - Post-employment......Page 197 D - Post-employment......Page 198 B - Declaration of income......Page 199 Instruments......Page 200 Summary: conflicts of interest policy in France......Page 201 France is one of the founding members of the EU.......Page 202 Members of the Government......Page 203 Members of Parliament......Page 204 The Parliament does not have a committee, but they do have a register.......Page 205 Instruments......Page 206 B - Declaration of income......Page 207 A - Professional activities......Page 208 Instruments......Page 209 Germany is a founding member of the EU.......Page 210 In general:......Page 211 In general:......Page 212 In general:......Page 213 E - Other Conflicts of Interest......Page 214 E - Other Conflicts of Interest......Page 215 E - Other Conflicts of Interest......Page 216 Instruments......Page 217 In general:......Page 218 D - Post-employment......Page 219 B - Declaration of income......Page 220 Instruments......Page 221 General profile......Page 222 C - Gifts, Missions, Travels......Page 223 B - Declaration of Income......Page 224 Instruments......Page 225 E - Other Conflicts of Interests......Page 226 Instruments......Page 227 B - Declaration of Income......Page 228 Members or Directors of the central or National Bank......Page 229 Instruments......Page 230 The Republic of Ireland joined the EU in 1973.......Page 232 Members of Parliament......Page 233 Instruments......Page 234 In general:......Page 235 In general:......Page 236 Instruments......Page 237 There exists no specific law on conflicts of interest applicable to all institutions.......Page 238 In general:......Page 239 In general:......Page 240 In general:......Page 241 Instruments......Page 242 General profile......Page 243 C - Gifts, Missions, Travels......Page 244 Instruments......Page 245 E - Other Conflicts of Interests......Page 246 In general:......Page 247 E - Other Conflicts of Interests......Page 248 In general:......Page 249 Members or Directors of the Central or National Bank......Page 250 C - Gifts, Missions, Travels......Page 251 Instruments......Page 252 General profile......Page 253 C - Gifts, Missions, Travels......Page 254 In general:......Page 255 Instruments......Page 256 B - Declaration of Income......Page 257 Instruments......Page 258 C - Gifts, Missions, Travels......Page 259 Members or Directors of the Central or National Bank......Page 260 Instruments......Page 261 So far, Luxembourg has introduced a code in none of the three institutions.......Page 263 Instruments......Page 264 Members or Directors of the Centralor National Banks......Page 265 General profile......Page 266 In general:......Page 267 In general:......Page 268 Instruments......Page 269 Instruments......Page 270 E - Other Conflicts of Interests......Page 271 E - Other Conflicts of Interests......Page 272 General profile......Page 274 B - Declaration of Income......Page 275 In general:......Page 276 B - Declaration of Income......Page 277 Instruments......Page 278 In general:......Page 279 Instruments......Page 280 A - Professional Activities......Page 281 Members or Directors of the Central or National Bank......Page 282 D - Post-employment......Page 283 Instruments......Page 284 Portugal acceded the European Union on 1 January 1986 as the 12th Member State.......Page 285 Instruments......Page 286 Instruments......Page 287 In general:......Page 288 Instruments......Page 289 B - Declaration of income......Page 290 Instruments......Page 291 Romania is a new Member State of the EU: it joined the EU on 1 January 2007.......Page 292 C - Gifts, missions, travels......Page 293 B - Declaration of income......Page 294 In general:......Page 295 In general:......Page 296 Slovenia is a new Member State of the EU: it joined the EU on 1 May 2004.......Page 298 In general:......Page 299 In general:......Page 300 In general:......Page 301 Instruments......Page 302 A - Professional activities......Page 303 A - Professional activities......Page 304 Instruments......Page 305 In Spain there is a tendency to strong regulation.......Page 306 In general......Page 307 In general......Page 308 A - Professional activities......Page 309 Member or Directors of the Court of Audit......Page 310 In general......Page 311 Instruments......Page 312 General profile......Page 313 Instruments......Page 314 Judges of the Supreme Court......Page 315 Instruments......Page 316 Instruments......Page 317 In general:......Page 319 B - Declaration of income......Page 320 Instruments......Page 321 E - Other Conflicts of Interests......Page 322 N/A......Page 323 ANNEX 4 – CoI profiles of EU institutions......Page 324