The European Commission has revised its rules on official travel after it was revealed that the EU’s top transport official had signed off on its own free flights to Qatar.
This is reported “European Truth” with reference to Politico.
A European Commission spokesman at a regular press briefing on Tuesday announced that European officials had been briefed this morning about the restriction on travel paid for by third parties.
In addition, the Director Generals – the top officials in each Directorate General of the European Commission – will have to consult with the relevant Commissioner under the Directorate General or the head of the Cabinet to approve foreign travel expenses.
Directors-General may authorize travel sponsored by Member State authorities, international organizations such as the UN and the G7, and public and private universities only if it is for educational purposes.
The change became known after the exposure of the Director General of the Transport Transport Department of the European Commission, Henrik Hololei, who, as it turned out, enjoyed free flights from the Qatari government and was in parallel negotiating a bilateral agreement on flights.
At first, the European Commission stated that these flights did not contain a conflict of interest. But on Monday, they confirmed that Khololei himself was responsible for this check. In parallel, EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly launched an investigation into how the European Commission manages travel expenses paid by third parties.
Note that last month the European Commission stated that sees no reason to terminate the EU aviation agreement with Qatardespite the European Parliament corruption scandal known as Qatargate.
Qatargate is associated with bribing current and former European Parliament officials. As part of the investigation, among others, former Vice President Eva Kylie was taken into custody, who is accused of illegal lobbying in favor of Qatar. In connection with the investigation, the European Parliament has already suspended the vote on granting citizens of Qatar a visa-free regime with the EU.
Read more in the article – Bags with money for a “kind word” about Qatar: the history of top bribery in the European Parliament
