The previous secretary-general, Klaus Welle, spent 13 years transforming his post into a power center that influenced everything from Parliament’s agenda to who occupied the institution’s top jobs. His departure set off jockeying among the Parliament’s political groups, with the European People’s Party, Parliament’s largest group, trying to figure out how it could hold on to the mighty post.
As a close aide to Metsola, Chiocchetti was seen as the beneficiary of favoritism to get that role. He was also accused of benefitting from secret horse-trading that saw Parliament create several new jobs to secure political support for Chiocchetti and keep the role in the EPP’s hands.
“The sordid saga to install Mr. Chiocchetti as the new secretary-general of the European Parliament is bound to damage the Parliament’s reputation in the eyes of European citizens and representatives of other EU institutions,” said Heidi Hautala, then a Green MEP.
Metsola and her center-right European People’s Party (EPP), which backed Chiocchetti, insisted they were just following Parliament procedure.
“It was the most open process in the history of this institution,” Metsola said in Sept. 2022. “The vacancy was open several months ago, it was open for everybody to apply. Eligibility checks were conducted, and for the very first time ever, there was more than one candidate presented for the job.”
Max Griera contributed to this article.