Luxembourg’s former prime minister and ex-EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker is to retain an office and expenses in the commission’s Brussels headquarters for the next five years after his role as a “special adviser” was extended.
Juncker’s five-year term as European Commission president ended in 2019, but he was offered the opportunity to stay in the Berlaymont building.
His role as “special adviser” to his successor as the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, gives him an office and the payment of some official expenses.
Since 2019, Juncker has tended to base himself for a few days a week in the office at the commission’s headquarters, receiving guests and journalists and working on his memoirs, and spending the rest of his time in Luxembourg.
This setup is due to remain the case for the duration of von der Leyen’s second term, which ends in 2029.
“On 30 October 2019, the Commission decided that former Presidents of the Commission could be awarded a contract as special advisers with the special title of ‘former President’ for the five years following the end of their mandate,” said a European Commission spokesperson. “On this basis, Mr Jean-Claude Juncker was awarded such a contract after the end of his mandate on 1 December 2019.”
However, the College of EU Commissioners “considered it appropriate to benefit from his experience for a longer period in this complex and challenging period” and therefore decided to extend Juncker’s mandate for up to five years in September, the commission spokesperson added.
“His contract is unpaid and its conclusion and extension are fully in line with the general rules for special advisers,” the spokesperson said.
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Translation and editing by John Monaghan.)