The Community Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, announced this Wednesday that the American Fiona Scott Morton has resigned from the position of chief economist in her portfolio after the suitability of her signing was questioned from various instances.
“Given the political controversy caused by the election of a non-European to fill this position and the importance of the General Directorate (of Competition) having the full support of the European Union, I have considered that it was best to retire,” he wrote. in his letter of resignation to Vestager.
“I accept it with regret and hope that he will continue to use his extraordinary skills to push for greater competition enforcement,” the Danish commissioner has reacted.
The appointment had been questioned, among others, by the European Parliament. According to the chamber, the position was given to a citizen from outside the Union and who had been a consultant to several of the large North American technology companies, such as Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, going on to occupy a key position in the regulation of the same giants.
According to AFP, even five commissioners, the Spanish Josep Borrell, the French Thierry Breton, the Portuguese Elisa Ferreira, the Italian Paolo Gentiloni and the Luxembourger Nicolas Schmit wrote to President Ursula von der Leyen to demand a reassessment of the appointment. French President Emmanuel Macron had also shown his reservations about the election, stressing that there is no reciprocity in appointments of Europeans to US organizations and that if there is no European candidate, the European educational system is questioned. “Isn’t there even a great European researcher with academic qualifications who can do this job?” Macron launched this week.
Parliamentarians also feared interference by Washington in the decisions of the European Union. The Yale University economics professor was also responsible for economic analysis in the antitrust division of the US Justice Department between May 2011 and December 2012, during the Obama Administration.
The appointment came at a time when the EU must implement ambitious new legislation to regulate the technology sector.
