The former EU commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn, is to be asked to clarify the circumstances surrounding his alleged willingness to act as a consultant for a company lobbying the Commission, according to a Commission spokesman, Mr Romano Levi.
Commission sources insisted, however, that weekend claims about Mr Flynn did not suggest any impropriety or breach of rules on his part.
Mr Flynn said yesterday that a Sunday paper had set him up and he did not propose to dignify its methods or claims with a comment.
He and two other former commissioners, Mr Martin Bangemann and Mr Jacques Santer, were telephoned by reporters posing as representatives of a fictitious company seeking to lobby Brussels against environmental legislation.
Mr Flynn allegedly offered his services for two days a month for £500 a day and a £10,000 annual retainer.
The treatment of the story, with its banner "Cash for access scandal" headlines, is regarded by some in Brussels as another manifestation of the Murdoch group's obsessive anti-Europeanism.
Its tale of former commissioners working as consultants can scarcely be described as surprising. Mr Flynn would be joining a long line of former commissioners - of Irish and other nationalities - in the consultancy business or making their way into boardrooms courtesy of their experience of Brussels.
Commissioners are bound by the treaty to swear a solemn undertaking "that, both during and after their term of office, they will respect the obligations arising therefrom and in particular their duty to behave with integrity and discretion as regards the acceptance, after they have ceased to hold office, of certain appointments or benefits".
That obligation has been made more specific by a code of conduct introduced by the new Prodi Commission for its own members. They are obliged to clear with the Commission any appointments undertaken up to a year from leaving office. Should these overlap with the ex-commissioner's portfolio they may be referred for approval to an ethics committee.
Former commissioners are also required to notify the Commission of any income earned in the two years after leaving the job, as this affects the size of their severance package. They are not obliged to reveal the source of that income.
