Let’s put the brakes on Brussels’ revolving doors

Cooling-off periods prevent insiders of public institutions taking jobs at private companies for a suitable period – they are needed for all MEPs and top civil servants, argues Sven Giegold

Monday 15 September 2014 at 17:00

How smoothly the revolving doors in Brussels spin. June 30 was Sharon Bowles’s last day as an MEP. Six weeks later, on August 15, she became a non-executive director of the London Stock Exchange Group. Why does it matter?

From 2009 to 2014, Bowles chaired the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs - she was one of the key figures in European financial regulation.