The European Commission “sees no reason to reconsider” the controversial hiring of American Fiona Scott Morton, a spokeswoman said on Friday. This former lobbyist and former executive of the Obama administration was chosen to occupy a key position for the regulation of the technological giants.
The French government asked the European Executive on Thursday to reconsider this election, a request that the leaders of the four main political groups in the European Parliament who denounce the risks of conflict of interest and interference from Washington have picked up on Friday.
The European executive, chaired by Ursula von der Leyen, announced this Tuesday that Fiona Scott Morton, professor of economics at Yale University, has been chosen as the new chief economist of the Directorate General for Competition.
outraged reactions
The appointment sparked outrageous reactions, particularly in France. Elected officials from all walks of life have highlighted her past roles as head of economic analysis at the US Department of Justice’s antitrust division from May 2011 to December 2012, or as a consultant to major tech groups like Amazon, Apple and Microsoft. .
In the European Parliament, the leaders of the EPP group (right), the German Manfred Weber, of the S&D (social democrats), the Spanish Iratxe García Pérez, of Renew (centrists and liberals), the French Stéphane Séjourné, and the Greens, the Belgian Philippe Lamberts (Greens) also wrote to the Commission asking it to “rescind this decision”.
Non-European candidates considered
“At a time when our institutions are subject to intense scrutiny in the face of foreign interference, we do not understand why non-European candidates are considered for such a strategic and high-level position,” they explain in a letter dated Friday to the commissioner EU Competition Commission, Margrethe Vestager.
The powerful Directorate General for Competition is in charge of ensuring the proper functioning of competition in the European Union and in particular investigating abuses of dominant position by digital giants, which have resulted in record fines in recent years. .
The appointment of Fiona Scott Morton comes at a time when the EU must implement ambitious new legislation to regulate this sector. She feeds the criticism against Ursula von der Leyen, considered very Atlanticist.
Source: BFM TV
