* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Why the phenomenon of 'the revolving door' is something that should concern us all
“Former German government minister Dirk Niebel will be joining Rheinmetall AG of Düsseldorf in January 2015” – according to a Rheinmetall press statement released yesterday. What sounds matter-of-fact is, in fact, a problem that has occurred over and over in Germany and elsewhere: Government members moving from politics into the private sector with no or minimal cool-off periods. What is described as the ‘revolving door’ phenomena is not only an issue in the defence sector, but is perhaps especially so.
Dirk Niebel was Germany’s minister for Economic Cooperation and Development from 2009 until 2013, when his party got swept out of power and out of the Bundestag altogether. As minister, Niebel was part of the Federal Security Council, which takes non-public decisions over German defence exports. This is no small matter: According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Germany was the world’s third biggest arms exporter between 2009 and 2013. Due to the secretive nature of the German export-making process, it is unclear how many such discussions involved Rheinmetall, but it is assumed that at least one export decision was taken in Rheinmetall’s favour.
In countries around the world, the public perceives politicians moving into the private sector right after leaving government with scepticism, sometimes even cynicism. In a 2010 UK survey, this ‘revolving door’ between government and business comes a close second in the public’s ranking of potentially corrupt activities. And with good reason: former government members might be able to influence their former colleagues – at home and internationally – to favour their new employer. Of course, this is exactly what is intended by companies such as Rheinmetall when hiring former government members like Niebel as lobbyists, or consultants. So what’s at stake?
What is at stake is peoples’ trust in their government. What is at stake is peoples’ belief in the ethics of the public and private sector. What is at stake is the faith that decision-making on defence matters in not based on personal relations.
In Transparency International UK’s recent Defence Anti-Corruption Index, Germany was ranked as having very low corruption risks. However, there was one field where they did particularly poorly: transparency of export controls. In a sister-survey, defence companies were ranked for their corruption risk. Rheinmetall was found to have demonstrated very limited evidence of tackling corruption risks (and was thus ranked E on an A to F scale). Where defence companies and export decisions are ranked as not sufficiently transparent, government money is being spent without proper oversight.
And that is the problem with the revolving door in defence and elsewhere: it diminishes trust and tends to waste money. To fix this, there needs to be an understanding of what suitable cool-off periods are. For example, Germany’s LobbyControl has been advocating for a three-year period.
Another suggestion is a register of lobbyists following the example of the U.S. As any home owner knows, there are various ways to fix a broken door. What is urgently needed is the (political) will to fix it. The public will not accept public officials’ flying under the ethics radar anymore.
Anne-Christine Wegener is an anti-corruption writer and transparency campaigner.
