2023-07-14 15:31:15
The European Parliament has intervened in the dispute over the appointment of former American tech lobbyist Fiona Scott Morton as chief economist for the European Commission’s powerful competition department. Parliament is calling on the EU Commission to redo the selection process.
In a letter to European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager published on Friday (14 July), the leaders of Parliament’s four main political groups called on the European Commission to reverse its 11 July decision.
The appointed Scott Morton is a former professor at Yale University and worked for the administration of former US President Barack Obama. The main objections to her, apparently, stem from her previous work as a consultant for large technology companies and the fact that she is an American citizen.
It is currently expected that she will take office in September.
It is one of the highest official posts in the European Commission, responsible for advising the EU Competition Commissioner on matters related to state aid, mergers and acquisitions, and economic policy in general.
“At a time when our institutions are under intense scrutiny for foreign interference, we find it incomprehensible that non-EU applicants should be considered for such a high-level and strategic position,” the letter reads , co-signed by EPP leader Manfred Weber, Iratxe García Pérez from the Socialists and Democrats, Renew Europe leader Stéphane Séjourné and Philippe Lamberts from the Greens.
The Commission’s decisions on internal appointments “must not be contrary to the general principles, interests and objectives of our Union,” they added.
Group leaders also highlighted the implementation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into force in May and will dominate the work of DG COMP in the coming months and years. They stated: “We are very concerned about the opposing views they are expressing [Scott Morton] publicly expressed and the potential conflict of interest between her new role and her previous roles at major American technology companies.”
“In a time of global economic competition, we stand by an independent industrial policy and the digital sovereignty of our continent,” the letter concludes.
The latter is a reference to French President Emmanuel Macron’s campaign to see the EU develop ‘strategic autonomy’ in key areas such as industry, defense and digital, and drastically reduce its dependence on the United States and China.
The appointment to the department, known as DG COMP, sparked an angry backlash from senior French politicians, EURACTIV France reported. France’s Europe Minister Catherine Colonna said she was “surprised” by the appointment.
The reaction in France and the European Parliament also reflects a broader sovereignty struggle to fill top EU posts in European capitals.
[Bearbeitet von Nathalie Weatherald/Kjeld Neubert]
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