Belgian pressure to help EU justice commissioner Didier Lenders take the top job at the Council of Europe could land him in trouble.
Belgian Foreign Minister Haja Rachbib has instructed Belgian diplomats to support Mr. Lenders in his bid to become the next secretary-general of the Council of Europe, an international human rights organization. Reynders is running against former Swiss president Alain Berset and Estonia’s former culture minister Indrek Saar in the election.
But Reynders’ boss, Ursula von der Leyen, has set rules requiring committee members to clearly distinguish between campaign work and committee work.
Mr. Rahbib’s instructions, seen by POLITICO and first reported by the Belgian weekly magazine Nack, said Belgian diplomats must ensure that Mr. Reynders’ candidacy is reviewed by senior European University officials on January 25th. has been instructed to do everything in his power to promote his candidacy.
Officially, the Belgian European Commissioner is not yet campaigning for the position.
Mr. Reinders will not take time off from his post as attorney general until his candidacy is formalized. Candidates will be interviewed in March and the final list of candidates will be submitted to the Parliament of the Council of Europe. Elections are scheduled for June.
As reported by POLITICO, the EU’s new election campaign rules require candidates for other positions to be allowed to “participate in an election campaign where their personal interests as a candidate could influence the independent performance of the campaign.” must consider carefully the extent to which such actions could reasonably be considered to lead to a certain situation.” mission. ”
One Belgian diplomat said: “This is typical Reynders. He walks a very good ethical line.”
The European Commission did not respond to requests for comment. Reinders’ team declined to comment and referred POLITICO to the committee’s press secretary service.