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It's getting worse: Barroso has been hired by ... guess who


Just when it was mentioned in recent article that “the current euro-circus, a Frankenstein creation consisted of political puppets, corrupted politicians, technocrats, lobbyists and bankers, has completely lost common sense”, as they keep acting like there is nothing wrong with this creation, the former head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, came to contribute to this estimation.

From BBC :

France has called on the former head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, not to take up a job advising US bank Goldman Sachs on Brexit. French Europe Minister Harlem Desir called the move "scandalous" and said it raised questions about the EU's conflict of interest rules.

Ex-commissioners are free to take up a new role 18 months after leaving. Despite accepting the job after 20 months, Mr Barroso has come under fire for ignoring the spirit of the rules.

Mr Desir drew attention to the ill-timing of the job with Goldman Sachs. "It's a mistake on the part of Mr Barroso and the worst disservice that a former Commission president could do to the European project at a moment in history when it needs to be supported and strengthened," he told the French parliament, referring to Europe's shock after Britain voted to leave the EU on 23 June.

The bank hired Mr Barroso as an adviser and non-executive chairman of its international business, with a brief of advising the bank on the consequences of Brexit. Mr Barroso has said he hopes to bring his EU experience to bear as the bank's London operation deals with Britain's imminent negotiation of withdrawal from the EU. In his new role, Mr Barroso will be able to draw on his intimate knowledge of the EU and have access to many officials and politicians he worked with at the European Commission.

Recall that the Barroso administration has been awarded with the "golden medal" in serving interests by the Corporate Europe Observatory. Also, Barroso's former advisor Philippe Legrain revealed to the Greek Truth Commission for Public Debt, that the refusal of ECB's previous president, Jean-Claude Trichet, to consider any potential restructuring of Greek debt in 2010, was aimed solely at rescuing certain French and German banks which were particularly exposed to Greek debt.

The reaction of the French officials, shows some slow reflexes by the EU, which probably starts to realize that the euroship is going straight to the iceberg. However, it is probably too late, considering that the euro-circus as a whole continues to behave as if there is nothing wrong in the way that operates.

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