Martin Selmayr scandal gets another week on boil

European Parliament inquest threatens to add to toll for the Juncker Commission.

The European Parliament on Monday will give the Martin Selmayr scandal, now in its third tempestuous week, another gust of life.

The debate at the legislature’s monthly plenum in Strasbourg isn’t likely to shed much new light on or endanger the German’s promotion to the top civil servant’s post in Brussels. The Commission has laid out in great detail Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s chief of staff’s lightning quick rise to secretary-general, and based on that, experts say there’s little, if any, indication that any rules were broken.

The real question for Selmayr and the Commission is how much longer this controversy will swirl and how much damage it will inflict on both. Coming on the heels of fervent media attention, the show in Strasbourg is bound to worsen the headaches of the German lawyer and his patron, Juncker.

Already, the fallout from this internal Brussels hoo-ha has resonated unusually far. Under attack by the EU for weakening the rule of law, Hungary’s government last week invoked the Selmayr affair to accuse Brussels of “double standards.” The Dutch parliament is asking for explanations for the abrupt retirement of Dutchman Alexander Italianer, whom Selmayr replaced as secretary-general.

It has opened the doors to criticism over the prominence of Germans and of fervent Euro-federalists (Selmayr is guilty on both counts) in top Brussels jobs. For Euroskeptics, Selmayr’s backroom promotion has reinforced, fairly or not, the EU’s reputation as an unaccountable bureaucracy. And it potentially makes it harder for Selmayr to wield influence in the EU in the remaining year-plus of the Juncker Commission and, as he clearly appears to hope, beyond.

Let’s talk about Martin

Seen one way, this is an odd scandal. There’s a general consensus that Selmayr is both qualified for the post and that Juncker, as his predecessors did, had every right to put whomever he wanted in it.

Veteran officials familiar with the history and regulations of the EU civil service say the controversy isn’t really about any technical breach of the rules but about Selmayr himself.

“I actually don’t see anything unpredictable about this, except it happened a bit fast,” said one former senior Commission official, referring to the promotion. “People are making a fuss because they somewhat resent Mr. Selmayr,” the former official added. “It’s all down to the personality and maybe abrasiveness.”

But for some officials in the Commission, especially those who have clashed with Selmayr or felt bruised by his decisions, the manner of his ascent was a step too far. Most commissioners in the College learned about it only moments before they were asked to vote on  it.

“It’s not the result; it’s the process, the lack of transparency,” said one senior Commission official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “Yes, he’s qualified, but don’t treat us like fools,” the official said. “He says he is pro-European, but he has damaged the European institutions.”

There is little the Parliament can do to reverse Selmayr’s promotion short of taking the extraordinary and highly unlikely step of voting to force the resignation of Juncker and the entire College of Commissioners by approving a censure motion. Even then, a new College would have to vote to remove Selmayr from the job. There is also no indication that Juncker is having any second thoughts.

But in a sign of rising concern ahead of Monday’s hearing, a prominent Selmayr ally went public over the weekend in his defense. “The election of Prof. Martin Selmayr as secretary-general of the EU is to be welcomed, as he has proven to be a capable and loyal European,” the German Elmar Brok, the longest serving MEP, said in a statement emailed to journalists. “That is exactly what is needed today.”

Brok, who hails from the center-right Christian Democrats, is something of a political godfather to Selmayr. He accused Selmayr’s detractors of turning to “plots” and “conspiracy theories” and of being “leftist and anti-German.”

His defense addressed a resonant criticism of Selmayr’s appointment: Too many Germans in senior positions upset the EU’s goal of geographic balance. “Since Walter Hallstein, i.e. for half a century, there has been no German Commission president and never a German secretary-general,” Brok said.

Backroom schemes

Other criticisms of the appointment process have proven harder to refute.

According to the Commission’s own accounts, laid out in a three-page question-and-answer sheet, in letters from Juncker to MEPs who have complained, and by the spokesperson’s service during heated news conferences, Selmayr’s hiring was highly orchestrated and well-scripted.

Elevating Selmayr to the top job required creating and swiftly filling three vacancies, limiting publicity around the openings, and, in one case, putting forward a straw candidate — Selmayr’s own deputy — to be able to say a woman was considered, only to have her withdraw and be named Selmayr’s successor as chief of staff.

The backroom drama from last month bears hallmarks of secretive scheming and pullings of puppet strings associated with Selmayr’s four-year tenure as Juncker’s top aide. And yet there is broad agreement that by historical precedent Juncker is entitled to broad discretion in selecting a secretary-general.

Commission officials point out that Selmayr himself chose a more rigorous hiring process, under one provision of the Commission staff regulations, even though the Commission also insists he was eligible for an automatic transfer. The problem with this defense is it suggests that Selmayr knew in advance he was assured to get the job, which has infuriated critics.

According to a letter Juncker sent to MEPs from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, who expressed concerns about “conflict of interests, nepotism and contempt for rules,” on the night before Selmayr’s promotion went before the College, Juncker had consulted First Vice President Frans Timmermans — a Dutchman like Italianer, the outgoing secretary-general, and the Commission’s highest ranking Social Democrat.

Juncker and Selmayr are from the center-right European People’s Party and the emphasis on the consultation with Timmermans seems intended to send the message that Timmermans could have objected to, if not blocked, the appointment as a Socialist, a Dutchman or both.

“Everything was done strictly by the book,” a Commission spokesman said. “And as a result we have an excellent secretary-general. And nobody contests that.”

All 28 commissioners sitting around the table at the meeting on February 21 — including Timmermans, the Hungarian Commissioner Tibor Navracsics and the British Commissioner Julian King — voted to approve Selmayr as secretary-general.

The former senior Commission official noted that while Juncker had the right to propose Selmayr’s swift promotion that it was up to other Commissioners around the table to raise any objections. “If the others are muppets, it’s they who have abdicated their responsibility,” the former official said. “People have to be assertive in life.”