The question of whether or not a former minister of senior civil servant can start a career without restrictions in the private sector more recently resurfaced after former minister of the economy Etienne Schneider was appointed to the administrative board of steel giant ArcelorMittal two weeks ago. It is also likely that Schneider will be made "independent director" of the sprawling Russian conglomerate company Sistema next Saturday.
According to Luxembourg's ethics committee, a number of articles of the code of ethics are virtually impossible to apply to former members of the government as potential conflicts of interest could not be avoided. The committee for instance proposed the introduction of a 2-year period of restriction during which former ministers or senior servants cannot start a career in the private sector in order to strengthen transparency and integrity.
The state council reportedly adapted the code of ethics accordingly. Prime Minister Xavier Bettel explained in his reply to a parliamentary question that The updated version was sent to the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO). The new version is still awaiting approval.
GRECO will analyse the updated text and issue a compliance report in autumn. This report can then be used to modify individual points of the original code of ethics.
