The French government is concerned about the arrival at the general direction of competition for the regulation of tech giants of the American Fiona Scott Morton, former consultant for Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.
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Brussels says no. On Friday July 14, the European Commission addressed a plea of inadmissibility to the French government which demanded the cancellation of the controversial recruitment of the American Fiona Scott Morton to the Directorate General for Competition for the regulation of tech giants.
The request from Paris was however taken up by the leaders of the four main political groups in the European Parliament. They denounce both a risk of conflict of interest and that of interference from Washington with the arrival in a key position of this ex-consultant and former executive of the Obama administration, who was a consultant for large tech groups like Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.
His nomination provoked indignant reactions
The European executive, chaired by Ursula von der Leyen, announced on Tuesday that Fiona Scott Morton, professor of economics at Yale University, had been chosen as the new chief economist at the Directorate General for Competition. The appointment provoked outraged reactions, particularly in France.
Elected officials from all political backgrounds have singled out his lobbying activities and his former position as head of economic analysis at the antitrust division of the United States Department of Justice, between May 2011 and December 2012.