The appointment of Italian Alessandro Chiocchetti as European Parliament’s new secretary general on Monday is generating controversy.
On Jan. 1, Chiocchetti will succeed German Klaus Welle, who has held the parliament’s highest-ranking post since 2009.
The news website Politico, citing anonymous sources, reported that Chiocchetti’s appointment was part of a backroom deal.
The decision on who gets the top job is made by the EU Parliament’s 14 vice presidents and five advisory bureau members known as quaestors.
After hearing from four candidates and asking questions, the parliamentary bureau held careful deliberations and decided with a very large majority to appoint Chiocchetti.
The EU Parliament said in a statement. However, who voted for him was not made public.
The appointment sparked strong criticism from the EU’s Greens and Social Democrats.
The Greens’ Heidi Hautala, who is vice-president of the EU Parliament, said the selection process was inadequate, with each candidate only presenting themselves for ten minutes.
Chiocchetti is currently chief of cabinet to European Parliament President, Roberta Metsola.
Deals were not uncommon in the allocation of posts in other EU institutions, but the parliament has not attracted particular attention in this way before now. (dpa/NAN)
