“Hiring a former Gafam lobbyist is a disastrous signal”, denounces MEP Geoffroy Didier

“I imagine that there was a European woman or man, competent, and who was not a lobbyist for the big digital platforms”, estimates on franceinfo the European deputy Geoffroy Didier, after the appointment of Fiona Scott Morton, within the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission.

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The appointment of Fiona Scott Morton to the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition is controversial.  (DIEGO RAVIER / HANS LUCAS)

“This is a disastrous signal sent by the European Commission”estimated this Friday, July 14 on franceinfo the MEP Geoffroy Didier, about the appointment of an American, Fiona Scott Morton, as chief economist of the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission.

The European Commission on Friday addressed a plea of ​​inadmissibility to the French government which demanded the cancellation of this controversial recruitment. “The decision has been made. We see no reason to reconsider it,” Commission spokeswoman Dana Spinant told a daily press briefing.

An “influence” on the European Commission?

“I do not dispute the skills of this woman, I dispute this bad signal”explained Geoffroy Didier, who recalls that“there were eleven candidates”. “I imagine that among these eleven, there was a European woman or man, competent, and who has not been a lobbyist for the major digital platforms”. “Hiring a chief economist who is a former Gafam lobbyist at a time when the European Union wants to regulate these Gafams is a problem”.

“I can’t imagine for a moment that there was not an influence on the European Commission to choose this person among other equally competent people”also argued the MEP, who calls on the European Commission to “give up and choose another person”.


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