Juncker wants tighter ethics rules after Barroso controversy

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said he wants to change the ethics code following outrage over his predecessor’s decision to take a controversial job at US investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Jose Manuel Barroso joined the bank after waiting the compulsory 18 months following his exit from the senior EU job but this has sparked wide condemnation and Juncker said in an interview Saturday that he wanted stricter rules now.

“We must change the ethics code,” he told Belgium’s Le Soir newspaper published Saturday.

Barroso headed the Commission, the EU’s powerful executive arm, from 2004 until 2014, emerging as a high-profile public figure with political and business connections worldwide which critics say he could use unfairly to Goldman’s advantage.

The US bank has been widely blamed in Brussels for its role in the 2008 global crash and eurozone debt crisis.

Juncker said he would propose a longer “cooling off” period of three years from the current 18 months.

For commissioners, Juncker said he favours a 24-month span instead of the present 18.