Top FIFA official also holds key EU court function

A top FIFA official also sits on a secretive EU panel that assesses new judges for Europe’s top court — even as the court deliberates over multiple cases involving world football’s governing body.

Vassilios Skouris, a veteran Greek jurist, rakes in an annual salary of at least $215,000 (€192,000) as a chairperson of FIFA’s ethics committee, while simultaneously serving on the obscure 255 Committee, which vets judges nominated to sit on the Court of Justice of the European Union. 

Given FIFA’s regular appearances in cases before Europe’s supreme court, Skouris’ dual roles raise questions about the process for confirming Europe’s most powerful judges. 

“It is similar to a lawyer working for repeated and frequent litigants such as Google or Microsoft, sitting in that selecting committee, deciding on the appointment or renewal of judges that could decide cases involving such companies,” said one leading expert on EU law and the Court of Justice, who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject.

Among the European court’s cases involving FIFA are an imminent ruling regarding the future of the multibillion euro football transfer system (which is underpinned by Switzerland-based FIFA), and another on FIFA’s proposed rules to rein in wealthy football agents. Last year, the court ruled on the explosive football Super League case, dealing a blow to football’s governing bodies.

While there is no evidence Skouris has used his position to veto specific candidates with a view toward future football cases, one transparency advocate said the committee shouldn’t even have the “perception” of a conflict of interest. 

“Obviously the members sitting in the committee should abide by the highest standards of public integrity by avoiding not only conflict of interest, but even the mere perception of conflict of interest,” said Alberto Alemanno, professor of EU law at HEC Paris.

He added that there are potential issues “if one of them finds themselves in a situation of conflict between his personal interest and the interest of the committee — which seems to be the case.”

A spokesperson for FIFA said that it “does not see any conflict of interest,” including because “none of the decisions taken by the Ethics Committee has ever gone before the Court of Justice of the European Union.” Skouris, via FIFA, declined to comment.

The 255 Committee, established in 2010, is composed of seven judges — six chosen by the Council of the EU and one by the European Parliament — and scrutinizes the suitability of judges nominated by EU member countries to join the CJEU, before passing recommendations on to the Council. 

The Council is not obligated to follow the Committee’s advice, though it has largely rubber-stamped assessments from the 255 Committee on who should — and should not — be appointed to the CJEU. The top court delivers ultimate rulings on matters of EU law.

A spokesperson for the CJEU said, “it is totally impossible to envisage a situation whereby a 255 Committee member could possibly use its role on this advisory body in order to try to influence the outcome of pending or future cases at the ECJ.”

Some legal observers believe that given the hundreds of cases that make it to the Luxembourg court each year, it would be unrealistic for members of the 255 panel — who often hold roles at European universities, for example — to be completely free from potential conflicts of interest.

Complaints have been made to the European Ombudsman over the 255’s secrecy when deliberating over judges, though the Ombudsman ruled in 2019 that the committee “was justified in refusing to grant full public access to the opinions, primarily to ensure that the Panel continued to be free to express frank and robust views on the merits of candidates.”

A spokesperson for the Ombudsman declined to comment on the Skouris scenario. 

Skouris was the president of the CJEU from 2003 until 2015, and took up his position on the 255 Committee in March 2022. He has served since 2017 as the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s ethics committee, earning a base salary of $215,000 in 2023.

FIFA, which organizes the flagship World Cup and was rocked by a massive corruption scandal in 2015, created an ethics committee primarily to investigate possible infringements of its ethical code.