2023-07-19 13:35:00
DISPATCH — After a week of controversy, the American Fiona Scott Morton herself renounces the key post of the Directorate General for European Competition, for lack of the necessary confidence on the part of the Twenty-Seven.
“Fiona Scott Morton has informed me of her decision not to accept the post of Chief Competition Economist. I accept it with regret,” Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, Principal support for this application.
“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 ‘felt the best thing was for me to step down,’ Fiona Scott Morton wrote in her letter to Ms Vestager.
If his candidacy was supported by Ursula von der Leyen, many political leaders opposed it. And for good reason ! Fiona Scott Morton is an American who has spent most of her career in the service of GAFAM, but also in the US Department of Justice. The elected officials therefore highlighted obvious conflicts of interest vis-à-vis the tech giants, as well as possible interference by Washington in European decisions. However, the Directorate General for Competition is responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of competition in the European Union and for investigating abuses of dominant position by digital giants.
Read also: Four figures in the European Parliament denounce the appointment of Scott Morton
“If we have no (European) researcher of this level to be recruited by the Commission, that means that we have a very big problem with all the European academic systems”, lamented Emmanuel Macron. While several senior EU officials had called for a reassessment of this appointment, the French government had called for its cancellation. Last Friday, the European Commission sent an end of inadmissibility regarding this request.
Finally, it is the main person concerned who turns around, feeling that it would be difficult to exercise within such a divided Commission.
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