EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker has launched an unprecedented ethics investigation into his predecessor, Jose Manuel Barroso, questioning whether he broke EU law by taking a job at Goldman Sachs.
In a letter released by the European Ombudsman who has been pressuring Juncker to inquire into how Barroso plans to help the U.S. investment bank deal with Brexit, European Commission President Juncker said he was formally asking the former Portuguese premier to "clarify" his role at Goldman.
An independent panel of senior former EU figures, including a judge and a member of parliament, would review the case, which the Commission has previously said did not appear to breach its code of conduct as Barroso had been retired for over 18 months.
The uproar over him joining an American institution held partly responsible by many Europeans for a financial crisis that nearly broke the euro, comes as the EU is battling in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the bloc in June to dispel public perceptions that it is a technocratic pawn of global capital.
EU officials and diplomats say privately that Juncker and other leaders have been furious with Barroso
That is likely to be a central theme of Juncker's annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament on Wednesday and a summit of EU leaders in Bratislava on Friday.
EU officials and diplomats say privately that Juncker and other leaders have been furious with Barroso for taking a post with a firm whose public reputation in Europe is so poor but have said they see little the Commission can do.
Juncker, who took over two years ago when the conservative former prime minister stepped down after a decade running the EU executive, wrote on Friday that Barroso had assured him he would "behave with integrity and discretion".
However, he acknowledged the prominent role Barroso had held officials say there is little precedent for a former head of the Commission taking such a high-profile role in the private sector -- and would now seek written assurances of that.
"Because it involves a former president of the Commission," Juncker wrote, the Commission's chief administration would write to Barroso "asking him to provide clarifications on his new responsibilities and the terms of reference of his contract, on which I will seek advice of the Ad Hoc Ethical Committee".