The candidate of France to sit on the European Commission, Sylvie Goulard, was laundered by the European Parliament in the context of a case of alleged fictitious jobs, said Friday the press service of the European Parliament.
ANALYSIS - Sylvie Goulard, a choice that has imposed on Emmanuel Macron
"The case in the European Parliament is closed, there are minor administrative irregularities noted, non-systematic and unintentional.The reimbursement related to this case has been made," said a spokeswoman for the European Parliament.
The designation of Sylvie Goulard on Wednesday, by President Emmanuel Macron, to occupy the post of France to the Commission, caused some grinding of teeth because of his alleged involvement in a case of fictitious jobs of assistants of party MEPs Modem. An EU specialist with recognized skills and a centrist MEP from 2009 to 2017, she had to leave the post of minister of the armed forces just a month after her appointment in 2017, along with the centrists François Bayrou and Marielle de Sarnez.
The French judicial inquiry continues
In an interview Friday morning on the BFM TV channel, the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Amelie de Montchalin, had claimed that the European Parliament had whitened Sylvie Goulard after an "internal investigation". "The European Parliament, for two years, has itself looked at what happened and concluded that there was no information to suggest that she did not do things according to the rules "she said.
The French judicial inquiry into this case is continuing, however, where former parliamentary assistants and a few MEPs have been heard. To date, Sylvie Goulard has not been summoned. It now seems, according to a source familiar with the case in France, that it is not the most involved among the six parliamentarians referred to in the case.