The leader of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, is planning to place his right-hand man in a cushy civil service job, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Udo Zolleis, a Bavarian spin doctor, is the main candidate for a newly created director role in the Parliament’s research service, known as DG EPRS, where the Parliament recently created a new directorate for “academia, research and foresight”.
Though Parliament insists publicly that its civil service is staffed by neutral Eurocrats whose appointments follow strict EU recruitment rules, the reality is that almost all the top spots in the 8,000-strong administration are politically determined.
Zolleis currently heads up the strategy unit in the EPP group. Often seen as the political brain behind Weber, he pushed the EPP to build bridges with Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists, and also served as Weber’s spokesman.
Zolleis did not respond to requests for comment.
The post as director for “academia, research and foresight” was created on 20 October, when MEPs approved a proposal by Parliament’s Secretary-General Alessandro Chiocchetti to restructure the research department and create a new directorate.
Chiocchetti – whose own appointment involved creating new jobs to secure political backing – argued that the new directorate would spark “scientific research interest in the work of Members,” in a note obtained by Euractiv’s flagship newsletter Rapporteur.
“Probably this directorate has been created in order to give him a job,” said one former Parliament official. “Manfred is of the view that his people should populate the system.”
A Parliament spokesperson spontaneously contacted Euractiv this week to point out that no new role was being created. That’s because the research service’s directorate for resources is being shelved.
The vacancy appears to be written for Zolleis, who lectures in politics at Tübingen University, about two hours’ drive from Strasbourg, where the role will be based.
As a director, Zolleis would earn at least €18,000 a month in the new post. However, because the role is based in France, the entire salary would be multiplied by 114%, under a scheme that compensates officials for higher costs of living outside Brussels.
Weber has already faced criticism for receiving a double tax payer-funded salary, one for his role as MEP, and another for his post as president of the EPP.
(cz, jp)
