Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – The EU’s influential former tech enforcer Thierry Breton will join Bank of America’s advisory council, he told AFP on Thursday, a move denounced by one lawmaker as flouting a lobbying ban. Breton was the European Union’s internal markets commissioner until he abruptly resigned in September but has remained a bete noire of Elon Musk, continuing to tussle with him on social media in response to the tech billionaire’s criticism of Europe and its laws.
The former French finance minister served in the powerful EU post between 2019 and 2024 until he was replaced by Stephane Sejourne late last year. The European Commission gave its approval on Wednesday to Breton’s post at Bank of America, according to a decision published online. He had formally notified the commission in October.
Breton confirmed to AFP that he would be a member of the global advisory council, a role he held before joining the commission, from 2013 to 2019. “It’s only consultative, three meetings a year to discuss economics and geopolitics,” Breton said. The commission’s independent ethical committee concluded “the activity does not involve any obligation or responsibility outside of the meetings.” It added it considered the post would be “compatible” with EU rules but Breton must not “disclose information of the kind covered by the obligation of professional secrecy” and must not lobby the commission on behalf of the bank.
But an EU lawmaker and anti-corruption campaigner, Daniel Freund, slammed the decision. “It cannot be that EU commissioners take on a lobbying job within just a few weeks during the cooling-off period,” said Freund, a German member of the Greens. “The EU commission is making a mockery of its own rules on lobbying bans for former EU commissioners,” he said. Breton rejected the lobbying charge. “Certainly not, that’s absolutely not it, three meetings a year and obviously nothing else,” he said.
© 2024 AFP
