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“Rules of conduct ignored”, headlines De Volkskrant. According to the Dutch daily six European commissioners who resigned last spring now work as lobbyists or advisors for companies that could profit from their European knowledge and networks. De Volkskrant comments that rules governing conflicts of interest are inadequate and valuable European Commission information could easily leak to the companies concerned. Most striking examples are Charlie McCreevy, former commissioner for the Internal Market, who sits on the board of Ryanair, and Günter Verheugen, previously at Enterprise and Industry, who now has his own lobby company and works for the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Amsterdam daily also notes that 17 ex-commissioners, McCreevy included, have received up to €96,000 annually even after they landed jobs in lobbying or politics. The payments are intended to "ease life after Brussels" and are valid for three years.
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