Thierry Breton, the EU’s Internal Market Commissioner and technology watchdog until September 2024, has received special permission from the European Commission to start a new job at Bank of America without the usual two-year cooling-off period, Brussels Signal reports.
Normally, former Commissioners must wait two years after leaving office before engaging in lobbying activities. However, the European Commission said Breton’s employment would not breach EU rules as long as he refrained from lobbying on behalf of the bank and kept sensitive EU information confidential. Green MEP Daniel Freund told French news agency AFP:
“The European Commission is making a mockery of its own rules on banning lobbying for former European Commissioners.”
The Commission wrote in its January 16 decision:
“Former Commissioner Breton’s envisaged post term of office activity as a member of the Global Advisory Council [GAC] of Bank of America is compatible with Article 245 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.”
Breton will join Bank of America as a member of its Global Advisory Council. He told AFP that his role will be predominantly advisory, with only three meetings a year focusing on economic and geopolitical issues. Freund said to the news outlet Politico:
“How is this not a lobbying gig? They pretend they have cooling-off periods and strict integrity. There is a website [where] all such decisions are published. They sneak it out the back door, but my team monitors such things.”
Breton held one of the most influential positions in the previous Commission for five years. He resigned after von der Leyen asked France to remove his name from the list of candidates for the next Commission.
The European Commission said Breton had no contact with Bank of America during his time at the Commission.
Bank of America is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company. It is the second largest bank in the United States and the second largest in the world by market capitalisation, in both cases behind JPMorgan Chase.
