Former Health Commissioner John Dalli could have lost more than €300,000 in total allowances and a handsome pension if the Commission President had decided to sack him instead of forcing him to resign.
According to a Commission official in Brussels, since Mr Dalli was considered to be “innocent until proven guilty” he was entitled to all the benefits afforded to EU commissioners upon stepping down from office.
EU rules state that, on leaving office, commissioners are entitled to a resettlement allowance of one month’s salary (€20,278) and a reimbursement for all their travel expenses and moving costs.
Former commissioners are also entitled to a transitional allowance for three years, starting on the day after leaving office and a handsome pension upon reaching 65 years, calculated on the length of service.
According to Olivier Bailly, spokesman for EC President José Manuel Barroso, it has been calculated that the former commissioner will now be entitled to a monthly transitional allowance of €9,125 for the next three years and a pension of €2,311 a month.
“The pension will only kick in once Mr Dalli reaches 65 and that will be very soon,” the spokesman said.
Mr Dalli will be 65 in October of next year.
Asked by an Italian journalist why the former Maltese minister was entitled to such handsome allowances once he was forced to resign, Mr Bailly explained that Mr Dalli’s resignation was only based on a political assessment by Mr Barroso and not on a criminal offence.
“Until we have any legal conclusions, the Commission is considering former Commissioner Dalli as innocent until proven guilty and so we cannot take any action to curtail his allowances,” Mr Bailly said. “It will be a different story if Mr Dalli is eventually found guilty of any legal impropriety.”
It is up to the Maltese judicial authorities to decide whether to take any legal action against Mr Dalli, businessman Silvio Zammit and any other implicated party in the OLAF investigation.
The Attorney General’s office is still studying the details of the report and no decision has been taken yet.
According to the Commission’s code of conduct, the Commission President has two options to remove a commissioner from office.
In the case of a consensual resignation, similar to the one which Mr Dalli agreed to last week, the former commissioner will retain his right to full benefits.
On the other hand, if a commissioner refuses to step down, the President of the Commission or the Council (member states), by simple majority, may ask the European Court of Justice to remove the commissioner and deprive him his right to a pension or other benefits in conformity with the EU Treaty.