The president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, has launched an unprecedented investigation into whether his predecessor broke EU rules by taking a job at Goldman Sachs.



The EU executive has been under fire since it emerged in July that José Manuel Barroso, who led the European commission between 2004 and 2014, was advising the US investment bank on Brexit.



Barroso is now being asked to clarify his responsibilities at Goldman Sachs, according to a letter from Juncker to the EU ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly.



The case has also been referred to an independent panel of EU experts, charged with investigating breaches of the EU’s ethical code. The three-person panel is comprised of a former judge, a former vice-president of the European parliament and former top commission official.



Under EU rules, commission officials have a duty to “behave with integrity and discretion” once they have ceased to hold high office. As Juncker points out in his letter, this principle “has no time limit and is performed in all cases”.



The letter also puts Barroso in his place, noting that he will not be received in the EU institutions as a former president, but as an “interest representative”, who will be subject to the same rules as any other lobbyist. Although this line echoes earlier comments from commission officials, this is the first time that Juncker has made explicit the ban on red-carpet treatment.



Barroso, a student Maoist-turned centre-right prime minister of Portugal, took up the post of Brexit adviser at Goldman Sachs in July for an undisclosed sum. His decision to join the US investment bank, which was implicated in the Greek debt crisis, prompted fury among rank-and-file EU staffers. A petition initiated by EU employees attacking Barroso’s “morally reprehensible” behaviour, has attracted close to 140,000 signatures.



The anonymous group of EU staff, who plan to present their petition to Juncker at the end of this month, were angry that the commission hierarchy did not condemn Barroso’s bank job more forcefully.



Juncker has convened the ethics panel just days before a major speech on Wednesday, where he will attempt to steady an uncertain and divided EU, still reeling from the Brexit vote and split over its response to the migration crisis.



A spokesman for Goldman Sachs told the Wall Street Journal: “Goldman Sachs have adhered to all applicable legal rules and the highest ethical standards in [Barroso’s] appointment.”

Transparency campaigners called on Juncker to ensure the ethics panel convenes quickly with the aim of concluding its work within the next month.



Carl Dolan, director of Transparency International’s EU office, described the decision to call the ethics committee as “a small victory” for the thousands of EU citizens, including commission staff, that had signed the petition.



He added: “In a case that will have a huge impact on the commission’s integrity and reputation, the process needs to be swift and transparent. It’s imperative that the committee’s minutes, recommendations and the reasoning behind them are published as soon as possible.”

