No curtains to be raised in the Lords (see also post below).

Lord Pearson has let it be known that the Lisbon Treaty will be reviewed behind closed doors in the House of Lords and that five of those responsible will be receiving EU pensions. It is worth considering what the same Lord Pearson had to say on that topic last July, linked here, from which comes this quote: EU pensions are unusual and perhaps unique in that holders can lose them if, in the sole opinion of the Luxembourg court, they indulge in any action incompatible with their former duties. The rules governing former Commissioners are set out in Article 213 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community, which states that Members of the Commission,

“shall refrain from any action incompatible with their duties. When entering upon those duties they shall give a solemn undertaking that, both during and after their term of office, they will respect the obligations arising therefrom ... In the event of any breach of those obligations, the Court of Justice may rule that the Member concerned be deprived of his right to a pension”.

The solemn undertaking includes the promise to,

“perform my duties in the general interests of the Communities”,

and,

“to refrain from any action incompatible with my duties”.

The undertaking goes on:

“I further undertake to respect, both during and after my term of office, the obligations arising therefrom”.

The rules covering former staff are covered in Section 3 of the staff regulations entitled, “Disciplinary Measures”. Article 9 of those states:

“Where the official is in receipt of a retirement pension ... the appointing authority may decide to withhold an amount from the pension”.

So it seems clear that both former Commissioners and EU staff can lose all or part of their pension if, in the judgment of the Luxembourg court, they behave sufficiently badly. I shall return to what that behaviour might be at the end.

That was accepted by the Government in a Written Answer of 6 October 2003, which stated:

“Former members of the European Commission and their officials are bound to respect certain obligations arising from the office that they held. In the event of any breach of these obligations, the EU institutions are able to rule, according to the circumstances, that that person should be liable to a reduction or withdrawal of pension rights”.—[Official Report, 6/10/03; col. WA 31.]