After a week of controversy surrounding her American citizenship and skepticism expressed by Emmanuel Macron, economist Fiona Scott Morton announced that she would give up running for a key position in the European Union to regulate tech giants.
“Fiona Scott Morton has informed me of her decision not to accept the position of Chief Competition Economist. I regretfully accept it,” Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, the main supporter of the nomination, announced on Twitter.
The appointment of a former member of the Obama administration, a former adviser to Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, sparked a lively debate in Brussels. French President Emmanuel Macron himself said on Tuesday that he was “dubious” about the conscription.
In her letter to Ms Vestager, Fiona Scott Morton wrote: “Given the political controversy caused by the selection of a non-European to fill the position and the importance of the Directorate-General (for competition) having the full support of the European Union (…), I felt the best thing for me was to step down”.
Politicians have identified her previous jobs as the head of economic analysis in the US Department of Justice’s antitrust division, between 2011 and 2012, or as a consultant to large technology groups.
They denounced potential conflicts of interest and the danger of Washington’s interference in EU decisions.
On Friday, the European Commission made an appeal not to accept the French government, which officially demanded the cancellation of the appointment of a professor of economics at the prestigious Yale University.
Divided Committee
But the issue threatened to deeply divide the college of 27 commissioners at the top of the European executive.
Five of them, Spaniard Josep Borrell, Frenchman Thierry Breton, Portuguese Elisa Ferreira, Italian Paolo Gentiloni and Luxembourger Nicholas Schmidt, wrote to President Ursula von der Leyen to demand a re-evaluation of this appointment, a senior European official told AFP on Tuesday evening.
The Directorate General for Strong Competition is responsible for ensuring that competition operates properly in the European Union (EU) and in particular for investigating abuses of dominant position by digital giants, which have resulted in record fines in recent years.
Ms Scott Morton’s appointment comes at a time when the European Union must implement ambitious new legislation to regulate the sector.
“I salute the responsible decision of Fiona Scott Morton (…). The digital sovereignty of Europe is an absolute requirement,” French Minister Delegate Jean-Noel Barrot told AFP a few minutes after the announcement.
“If we do not have a (European) researcher of this level to be recruited by the Commission, it means that we have a very big problem with all European academic systems,” said Emmanuel Macron.
He also stressed the lack of “reciprocity” on the part of the United States and China to designate Europeans who would be “at the center of their decisions”.
Speaking of Europe’s “strategic autonomy”, he felt that the appointment of Mrs. Scott Morton “was not necessarily the most coherent decision in this regard”.
At a hearing in the European Parliament on Tuesday evening, Ms. Vestager tried, without persuasion, to defend her choice, which also had the support of Ms. von der Leyen.
“The idea that she has worked with all Gafams and because of that she cannot work in the technology sector is simply not true,” Ms Vestager told MEPs, referring to the collaboration as an “adviser” but “never as a lobbyist”.
She explained that the opening of the position to non-European candidates appeared in the job advertisement published in March, justifying this choice by the scarcity of skills available.
