2023-07-19 11:45:01
More than a week of controversy will have gotten the better of his post. The American Fiona Scott Morton will not ultimately be the new chief economist at the Directorate General for Competition. It was European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager who announced this on Wednesday on Twitter, indicating that she had given up running for this key post in the EU.
“Given the political controversy caused by the selection of a non-European to occupy this position, and the importance for the Directorate-General (of Competition) to have the full support of the European Union (…) I have felt the best thing was for me to step down,” Fiona Scott Morton wrote, in her letter to Ms Vestager.
The vice-president of the European executive had defended this recruitment the day before before the European Parliament. “I tried to hire the best possible person for this job,” she insisted, while explaining that it was not a decision-making position but only an adviser.
Professor Fiona Scott Morton has informed me of her decision to not take up the post as Chief Competition Economist. I accept this with regret and hope that she will continue to use her extraordinary skill-set to push for strong competition enforcement pic.twitter.com/W3Zb34in7N
— Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) July 19, 2023
Since the announcement of his appointment on July 11, several political leaders, particularly French, have been indignant. In particular, his former jobs raise concerns about the risk of conflicts of interest. The American has indeed held consulting positions in major tech groups such as Amazon, Microsoft and Apple. Companies that the European Union regularly has in its sights for their anti-competitive practices or non-respect of personal data.
“Europe’s digital sovereignty is an absolute requirement”
Another controversy, the American nationality of Fiona Scott Morton. It is rare for non-Europeans to hold positions in the European Commission, but Brussels says that only around ten applications have been received. This Tuesday, Emmanuel Macron had also said he was “doubtful” about the choice of an American to regulate “big tech”.
The Directorate-General for Competition is responsible for applying EU competition rules, authorizing mergers and acquisitions of companies and regulating state aid to companies.
The European Commission had on Friday addressed a plea of inadmissibility to the French government, which had officially demanded the cancellation of the recruitment of this professor of economics at the prestigious Yale University.
But the case threatened to deeply divide the college of 27 commissioners at the head of the European executive. Five of them, the Spaniard Josep Borrell, the French Thierry Breton, the Portuguese Elisa Ferreira, the Italian Paolo Gentiloni and the Luxembourgish Nicolas Schmit wrote to President Ursula von der Leyen to demand a reassessment of this appointment, a explained Tuesday evening to AFP a senior European official.
“I salute the responsible decision of Fiona Scott-Morton (…). Europe’s digital sovereignty is an absolute requirement,” French digital minister Jean-Noel Barrot told AFP, a few minutes after the announcement.
#European #Commission #American #Fiona #Scott #Morton #chief #economist