ECR European Conservatives and Reformists´ : Günther Oettinger on new budget portfolio – MEP Bernd Kölmel calls for Commissioner to have the courage of his convictions

The MEP of the Liberal-Konservative Reformer (formerly known as ALFA-Partei) and budgetary policy speaker of the ECR Group, Bernd Kölmel, has called for the new Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger to demonstrate the courage of his convictions. During a European Parliament exchange of views with the new Commissioner, Mr. Kolmel said 'The EU has made clear rules after the banking crisis in 2007/2008, that the taxpayer should not have to pay losses from banking crises. This rule has been in force since 2016. Now this rule is being applied for the first time to the Italian bank Monte dei Paschi but the rule is not being respected. It is not only Commissioner Dombrovskis who is responsible, but the whole Commission'.

Kölmel is highly critical of the continuing violations of EU treaties: 'The treaties of Maastricht are not worth the paper they're written on. While in the EU parking violators are fined consistently, bank managers can apparently do what they want. If an EU treaty would not be applied again, the EU will become a union of banana republics. Mr Günther Oettinger must address this issue as a matter of priority in his new role as Commissioner for the Budget and Human Resources,' said Mr. Bernd Kölmel.