No, don't dismiss Phil Hogan's golfgate as a 'Silly season news'.

It will tell us how politically accountable EU Commissioners (de facto EU ministers) are vis-à-vis all Europeans

Here's a thread

https://www.politico.eu/article/von-der-leyen-sets-phil-hogan-2-p-m-deadline-to-clarify-movements-in-ireland/

@PhilHoganEU @vonderleyen @EUombudsman

1. EU Commissioners are independent from their governments. They are not national politicians but emerge from that politico-electoral ecosystem

2. EU Commissioners are subject to respect of Code of Conduct requiring them to observe the highest standards of ethical conduct

3. THE question therefore IS whether Phil Hogan's breach of a national Covid restriction qualifies as a breach of such a high ethical standard

4. The answer belongs to the president of the EU Commission ALONE, who can be assisted by an advisory committee of independent experts

The options facing @vonderleyen are :

1. Do nothing
2. Reprimand
3. Ask him to step back and 4. even go to court to strip him of his pension rights…

I don’t’ expect 3-4 to happen assessment of ethical rules remains POLITICAL evaluation under EU ethics system.

Given the political nature of current enforcement of ethics rule, the question to be asked is:

What if Phil Hogan's misbehavior would have taken place elsewhere, let's say Spain?

Would this have Europeanized -or at least de-nationalised - his behavior in light of the Code?

Phil Hogan's golfgate ultimately shows that an overhaul of the Commission's ethics rules is overdue — notably the creation of an independent ethics body to preside over such cases