Commission under fire as expert takes BNFL post

The European Commission was criticised last night for letting a top British official in charge of nuclear safety take up a new job with British Nuclear Fuels.

Controversy has been building over the decision by Jim Currie, former director-general of the Commission’s environment department, to accept a part-time non-executive directorship with BNFL, just four months after leaving Brussels.

British MEPs and even his former boss, Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, urged him to drop the idea on the grounds that senior officials are not supposed to take posts which could make use of privileged information gained within the Commission.

He had been due to join BNFL from the start of March this year, but postponed the arrangement when news of his appointment triggered objections.

Commission staff rules say that departing top eurocrats must exercise ‘‘integrity and discretion’’ and seek approval for new jobs which could be incompatible with their obligations as former Commission officials.

Mr Currie did not seek permission, but has since written to the Commission insisting there is no conflict of interest and that he will respect his professional obligations regarding confidential information.

Mr Currie was in charge of the Commission’s environment department when it launched an investigation into radioactive discharges from the BNFL-owned Sellafield nuclear plant two and a half years ago.

And some MEPs say his decision later to join the company raises questions about the nature of Commission contacts with the firms it has a duty to police.

Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, whose North West constituency includes the Sellafield plant, said : ‘‘How can environmentalists trust the impartiality of the European Commission in determining environmental policy if they believe that top officials are lining themselves up for retirement jobs with the very companies they are supposed to police?’’

He said the Commission decision - postponing Mr Currie’s new job and telling him not to divulge confidential information gained while at the Commission - was a ‘‘fudge’’.

Mr Davies added: ‘‘The reality is that unless a Commission official is going to be sitting next to Jim

Currie at BNFL board meetings, no-one will ever know whether the advice he gives comes from privileged information’’.