On September 1, the American economist Fiona Scott Morton should join the powerful Directorate General for Competition, a sort of state within a state within the European Commission. Danish Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, has chosen this world expert, who has already worked for American antitrust under Obama. Its mission will include investigating Gafam (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft). Some NGOs had begun to raise the problem of this candidacy which caused a scandal in Brussels.
First by her nationality – the EU who relies on an American – but also because Fiona Scott Morton had been a consultant to two clients (Apple and Microsoft) while she was bringing the charge against Facebook and Google. She had been questioned by the American magazine Prospect in 2020. She is also criticized for a July 2019 column in the Washington Post where she took a stand against the dismantling of Big Tech, without disclosing her financial ties with Apple.
The very conditions of his appointment on Tuesday at the last college of European commissioners raise questions. This was Margrethe Vestager’s last college before she took her summer break and applied for the European Investment Bank (EIB). A passage in force, supported by President von der Leyen, because the appointment was classified in the points without deliberation of the commissioners. The Monday before, during the cabinet meeting, the nationality of Fiona Scott Morton was masked. She does not appear on his 13-page CV, which was distributed only at the last minute and in hard copy. We learn, at the very end, that his missions for his clients provided him with income of 1 or 2 million dollars on average… Margrethe Vestager felt that she should be preferred to a Spanish candidate, revolted.
The case takes a serious turn when the politicians get involved. Catherine Colonna, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, speaks of her “astonishment”. “Digital regulation is a key issue for France and for Europe. This appointment deserves to be reconsidered by the European Commission,” adds the head of French diplomacy. It is possible because, according to our information, the contract of Fiona Scott Morton is not yet signed. MEP Raphaël Glucksmann speaks of an “unacceptable” choice. “We have worked hard to regulate the Gafam, it is not to entrust the application of these rules to their lobbyist. No way,” he tweeted. “This appointment is awkward at best, dangerous at worst. In any case, the Commission must give it up, says Geoffroy Didier, LR-PPE MEP. In Brussels, when you take a lobbyist out the door, he comes back through the window. Fiona Scott Morton will indeed take up her post when new European legislation comes into force supposed to regulate the competitive practices (via the DMA regulation) of the very large digital players known as “gatekeepers”: Alphabet, Amazon, Appel, Byte , ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft, Samsung.
Everything happens as if Vestager, before leaving, had wanted to leave a last poisoned gift to Thierry Breton, his adversary within the Commission. The French commissioner is responsible for implementing the regulation of Gafam. We cannot say that he is delighted with the attack on the credibility of the institution by this American expert with a special profile…
Accused, the Commission indicated that the chief economist will “withdraw from the files concerning his former employers”, for a period of two years. “Her mission in this position lasts three years, so she will step back two years out of three. It doesn’t make sense,” people choke in the corridors of the Commission.
Admittedly, the Commission may call on employees of non-EU nationalities for specific skills or linguistic reasons. It is all the same difficult to argue that Europe cannot find competent collaborators within it in the field of competition law without resorting to American labour. Especially since American law and European antitrust law are not at all of the same essence on both sides of the Atlantic because of federalism.
“The question of resources arises at all levels, observes Renew MEP, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, specialist in competition issues. Do we have to recruit from American Gafam? If we add the revolving door of certain senior officials of the European Commission who have now gone to law firms, the digital giants are well supported to navigate the new European regulatory environment…” Manfred Weber and Stéphane Séjourné, the presidents of the EPP and Renew parliamentary groups, send a letter of protest to the European Commission. Stéphanie Yon-Courtin is asking for a hearing before the Econ commission. Ursula von der Leyen will have to explain herself. She could spare herself this controversy which exposes her, once again, to lawsuits on her acquaintances with the United States.
Just as the appointment of Fiona Scott Morton was made official, another file, more discreet this time, in the European Parliament occupied the French. The position of Director General of Personnel (“DG PERS”) was vacant following the departure of Dane Kristian Knudsen. France coveted the post by pushing the candidacy of Valérie Montebello, member of DG PERS. The permanent representation of France in Brussels supported this candidacy. But on Monday, the office of Parliament preferred a Briton, Ellen Robson, who was in charge of legislative acts.
“But since she is married to a German, she was able to take her husband’s nationality and remain among European civil servants,” said a source familiar with the matter. “Valérie Montebello’s candidacy was good. She had passed a good oral interview. But the selection committee had ranked her second choice. We can, at the level of the office of the Parliament, reverse the choice but it is very expensive politically ”, indicates a source close to Roberta Metsola, the president of the European Parliament. France therefore had to give in to a Briton who was pushed by Markus Winkler, the Deputy Secretary General, close to the Socialists. The European Parliament is, in fact, an administration where political labels weigh in the choice of appointment of civil servants.
