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