The expensive appointment that sparked a controversy in the European Commission: its president, accused of favoritism

The European Commission and its president, Ursula von der Leyen, are this Thursday involved in a strong controversy over the appointment of a conservative euro-legislator to a senior position, amid suspicions of favoritism and calls for explanations.

The scandal concerns the appointment of the German Markus Pieper, on January 31, to the position of 'EU Representative for SMEs', which sparked a tense letter from four European commissioners to Von der Leyen.

The position is equivalent to that of a special advisor, with a remuneration of more than 18,000 euros (about 20,000 dollars) per month, that is, about 75 million Colombian pesos.

The appointment of Pieper, linked to the conservative European People's Party (EPP, the largest in the European Parliament), occurred a few weeks before a congress of that bloc that decided to support Von der Leyen's candidacy for re-election in the Commission.

In a letter dated March 27, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, and European commissioners Thierry Breton (Internal Market), Nicolas Schmit (Labor) and Paolo Gentiloni (Economy) asked that the issue be discussed in the Commission “as soon as possible”.

Of the four, Borrell, Gentiloni and Schmit belong to the Social Democrats political bloc, and Breton to the liberal Renew Europe bloc. Schmit even formally aspires to succeed Von der Leyen as head of the European Commission.

According to the four signatories, Pieper's appointment “has sparked questions about the transparency and impartiality of the nomination process.”

Legislators from four different political blocs formalized a request to the European Commission to explain the score obtained by Pieper in the tests carried out on the legislator and two women who also aspired to the position.

These four blocs (Social Democrats, Renew Europe, the Left and the Greens) want to know if “the candidate's political affiliation played a decisive role in the nomination.”

Pieper did not speak publicly about the scandal, and limited himself to pointing out that he hopes to assume his position despite regretting that to do so he will have to leave behind his seat as a Eurolegislator.

The European Parliament must vote next week on a motion to annul Pieper's appointment.

Commission spokesman Eric Mamer stated this Thursday that Von der Leyen “has full confidence that the process [de nominación] “was conducted in accordance with due procedures.”

A European official told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that there were also two female applicants, one from Sweden and the other from the Czech Republic, and that both had reached the final selection phase with better grades than Pieper.