It’s an unexpected turnaround. The appointment of the American Fiona Scott Morton to the post of Chief Economist of the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission will ultimately not take place. The latter informed Margrethe Vestager of her decision, in a letter published on Twitter by the Vice-President of the European Commission, because, she said, “of the political controversy” aroused by her arrival in this key post of the EU for the regulation of tech giants.
“Fiona Scott Morton has informed me of her decision not to accept the position of Chief Competition Economist. I accept it with regret,” she said on Twitter.
The appointment of this former Obama Administration, former consultant for Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, caused a big controversy in Brussels. Until last night again, the European Commission was studying the list of tech boxes where Fiona Scott Morton should have left because of conflict of interest …
“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 (…) j ‘felt the best thing was for me to step down,’ Fiona Scott Morton wrote in her letter to Ms Vestager.
A few hours earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron had been “skeptical” about this appointment and said he was waiting for answers from the European Commission.
Politicians denounce interference from Washington
Political leaders, mainly in France, have pinned down her former functions as head of economic analysis at the antitrust division of the United States Department of Justice, between 2011 and 2012, or as a consultant for large tech groups. They denounced the risk of interference from Washington in EU decisions.
The European Commission had on Friday addressed a plea of inadmissibility to the French government, which demanded the cancellation of the recruitment of this professor of economics at the prestigious Yale University.