The European Commission appoints Fiona Scot Morton who has advised Google, Meta and Amazon as Europe prepares to introduce new legislation to regulate the sector.
The Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, is heard on Tuesday July 18 in the European Parliament on the controversial appointment of this senior civil servant to a key post in Brussels. This person’s name is Fiona Scott Morton. Professor of Economics at the prestigious Yale University, in the United States. His candidacy has just been selected for the position of Chief Economist of the European Directorate for Competition strategy.
>> Three questions on the controversial appointment of the American Fiona Scott Morton to a key post in the European Commission
An impeccable career as that of the rookie, except that Mrs. Scott Morton, a pure product of the administration of former President Barack Obama, worked in the antitrust division of the American Department of Justice and, above all, was direct consultant for major technology groups such as Apple, Amazon and Microsoft. Suffice to say that she knows a ray of it.
Risk of conflict of interest?
For some, it is a storm in a teacup and a controversy as we like them in France. The fact is that the powerful Directorate General for Competition in Brussels is responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of the system in Europe by investigating in particular the abuse of dominant position by the digital giants, these Gafam (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft ), created by Americans and regularly pinned on the Old Continent. However, the appointment of Fiona Scot Morton comes at a time when Europe is preparing to put in place new legislation to regulate the sector. Hence the recruitment criticized by certain political and economic leaders who wish to obtain explanations, or even have the operation canceled.
Several personalities have stepped up to the plate, including the French Commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, taken up by several political groups, including the Greens, up to Medef, in France. The brand new ex-president of the employers’ movement, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, speaks of “naivete“, “indifference” and “contempt of the Brussels administration for public opinion“. For its part, the European Technology and Digital Agency (Jedi) believes that the time has come for an in-depth reform of the Directorate General for Competition, which contributes to “accelerating Europe’s technological decline over the past 20 years“.
Von der Leyen straight in his boots
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen refuses to back down. Right in her boots facing the bronca of MEPs and other personalities, Mrs. Von der Leyen addresses an end of inadmissibility. This will not fail to reinforce the growing feeling against a European president already accused of playing into Germany’s hands. The American game this time, that is to say an Atlanticist side now displayed in broad daylight and from which Ursula Von der Leyen is finding it increasingly difficult to defend herself. The hearing of the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, herself much criticized, promises to be lively, even stormy.