EU Parliament Chief Urges to Toughen Ethic Code After Barosso Takes Goldman Job

President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz on Wednesday doubted the effectiveness of EU ethics code and called on the bloc to toughen its conduct rules amid the criticism of former European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso's appointment at US investment bank.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — In July, Barroso, who served as the president of the European Commission from 2004 to 2014, took a job with Goldman Sachs bank on an undisclosed salary. This caused a wave of negative reaction from the European political establishment and society as the Goldman Sachs allegedly had helped Greece to reduce debt burden with cross-currency derivatives, worsening its debt crisis ahead of entering the euro area.

"We should now adapt the code of conduct in order to better clarify what former European Commission presidents and commissioners are allowed to do," Schulz told German newspaper Die Welt on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, incumbent President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker launched a probe into whether Barroso broke EU rules by taking a job at Goldman Sachs.

Over 143,000 EU citizens have signed as of Wednesday a petition to sanction Barosso, calling on him to forfeit his EU pension.