The leadership of the European Parliament appointed its new secretary-general on Monday evening, a strategic administrative position in the institution’s functioning, at the end of a nomination process criticized for a lack of transparency, Le Figaro and Agerpres reported.

The office of the European Parliament, which consists of the EP President Roberta Metzola (European People’s Party Group) and 14 Vice-Presidents, appointed Mr. Alessandro Ciocchetti as the new secretary general of the institution”, whose position will be filled from January 1, the European legislative body announced in a press release.

53-year-old Italian Alessandro Ciocchetti heads the staff of the President of the EP since her election in January this year. The decision to appoint Ciocchetti was made in Strasbourg at a meeting behind closed doors.

The list of candidates for this most important administrative position in the European Parliament was not made public in advance, as was the procedure for comparing candidates.

“The procedure allows members of the bureau to listen to four different candidates and ask them questions,” the European Parliament explained on Monday evening, adding that the appointment of Alessandro Ciocchetti took place “by a very significant majority and after long discussions.”

Controversies related to the appointment of the Secretary General of the European Parliament

The appointment of the previous Secretary General of the European Parliament, the German Klaus Welle, who held the post since 2009, has already been accused of great opacity.

“It is an unjustified accelerated procedure that seriously affects the image of the institution, in conditions where there is enough time to replace the current secretary general before the end of the year,” condemned the leader of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group, Irache García Pérez.

In an open letter to the members of the bureau of the European Parliament, the non-governmental organization Transparency International called for “urgent measures to be taken to increase the transparency and fairness of recruitment procedures in the European Parliament.”

In 2018, the appointment of the German Martin Zellmayr – at that time the chief of staff of the former President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker – to the position of Secretary General of the EU executive power, a year before the elections to the European Parliament, caused widespread controversy at the European level.