European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker wants his commissioners — and himself — to wait longer before they take a job in the private sector after finishing their terms, he told commissioners at a closed-door retreat in the Belgian city of Genval on Friday morning, according to people present in the room.

Juncker proposes to extend the cooling-off period during which ex-commissioners need permission to take up a new role to two years for commissioners and to three years for the institution’s president, up from 18 months at present. The changes would be made in the Commission’s own code of conduct, which Juncker wants to make more formal, according to EU officials briefed on the matter.

The move is a reaction to recent cases of former commissioners coming under fire for taking on jobs in the private sector. Former Commission President José Manuel Barroso particularly angered Juncker by joining investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Juncker’s move is intended to blunt criticism that the Commission lacks transparency ahead of the next European Parliament election in 2019. He told commissioners at the retreat that his ambition is to play “at the top of the league” when it comes to good governance, attendees said.

“The College [of Commissioners] is having a first exchange on the code of conduct,” a Commission spokeswoman said, adding that “a second one will follow in the weeks to come.”

The plans include promoting the Commission’s own ethics committee from an ad-hoc body to a more formal and institutional role, publishing their decisions and giving third parties the right to lodge complaints about commissioners’ behavior.

Stricter rules would also apply to the financial interests of Commission members, adding mandatory reporting of assets and liabilities of over €10,000 — and of all investments regardless of their amount if there is a potential for a conflict of interest.

Under Juncker’s plans, mandatory divestment would follow if the ethics committee ruled there was a conflict between a commissioner’s job and his or her assets.

It is for the College of Commissioners to establish their own rules, although the European Parliament needs to be consulted. The Commission can expect MEPs to welcome the proposals, which Juncker said he might include in his State of the European Union speech in Strasbourg later this month. Former Parliament President Martin Schulz had called for changes to the code of conduct, which Juncker promised to undertake in a letter to Schulz in November last year.

Juncker proposed another set of new rules regarding the Commission’s travel expenses. He wants the expenses to be published once a year — a nod to reports about his own travel expenses.