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By Daniel Aronssohn
MEPs will grill the European Commission’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager on Tuesday after France raised questions about her hiring of an American economist. headline news
Yale professor and former US anti-trust official Fiona Scott Morton has been appointed chef economist in Vestager’s directorate, despite not being an EU citizen.
Several French ministers and MEPs have cried foul, arguing that an American should not hold a strategic European post that oversees EU efforts to regulate US tech giants.
Some in Brussels have suggested that, despite Scott Morton’s academic reputation and record of criticising online monopolies, she may face a conflict of interest.
Along with professorships in Yale and Edinburgh and a post in former president Barack Obama’s administration, Scott Morton has worked as a consultant for Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.
The EU is in the middle of an overhaul of the rules governing online businesses, and a fierce lobbying campaign is underway in Brussels to dampen the impact on the US giants’ bottom line.
After grumbles from French politicians, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Thursday asked that the European Commission “reconsider” the appointment.
Contacted by AFP, Scott Morton said she had no comment.
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The EU executive, said it could see no reason to do so, but the leaders of the main conservative, centrist and socialist groups in parliament made the same demand.
“We are waiting for clear answers to specific questions concerning this unprecedented choice,” French centrist MEP Stephanie Yon-Courtin told AFP.
“How could the Commission not imagine that this could create a conflict of interest and cause a scandal?” demanded centre-right MEP Geoffroy Didier.
“Mainly French Reactions”
The co-leader of the Green group, Philippe Lamberts, initially signed the letter with his colleagues, but later announced that his concerns had been answered.
A commission official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Vestager “appreciated” the opportunity to appear before to parliament to explain the decision.
And the source pointed out that Scott Morton’s appointment had been approved by the 27-member college of commissioners while opposition had been “mainly French reactions”.
Meanwhile, 39 European economists, including some of France’s most renowned scholars, signed an open letter supporting their American colleague’s nomination.
“Scott Morton is one of the best economists in the world in the domain of industrial organisation, a major contributor to policy thinking on tech regulation and strongly motivated for public service,” they wrote.
“The European Commission and, more broadly, we as Europeans are very lucky to have drawn someone of her calibre.”
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