The Commission resists. “The decision has been made. We see no reason to reconsider” the recruitment of the American Fiona Scott Morton, academic, lobbyist and former executive of the Obama administration, to a key position for the regulation of large tech companies, announced on Friday July 14, the spokesperson for the European Commission Dana Spinant. “As long as she has not signed her contract, it can move”, nuance a senior European official. So far, nothing has been signed.
On July 11, the community executive validated the appointment of this expert in competition economics to the post of chief economist in the powerful Directorate General (DG) for competition. This one is responsible for investigating the anti-competitive behavior of companies, authorizing mergers and acquisitions, but also validating state aid from the various governments.
The nationality of the new recruit has moved, whereas in theory, apart from a few very framed exceptions, the Community institutions are required to hire nationals of the European Union (EU). Moreover, in Brussels, the Commission does not employ any Americans. But that’s not all. Fiona Scott Morton, in addition to her teaching activities at Yale University, is also a consultant for some of the big digital companies that the EU has in its sights. This therefore raises issues of conflict of interest.
In the curriculum vitae of the new recruit, which was sent to the commissioners, before his appointment, the subject is not very detailed, unlike his academic publications, which run over several pages. “I am not an employee of any consulting firm, rather an independent consultant”, she writes. She also declares doing assignments for three firms: most often for Charles River Associates – well known in the Brussels bubble for being Gafam’s favorite lobbyist and of which she was employed between 2006 and 2011 –, but also for Bates White and Cornerstone. .
Hostile French reactions
“I’ve worked on five or six files over the past ten years. Each case represented a budget most often between 1 and 2 million dollars [entre 894 000 euros et 1,79 million d’euros] », she adds, without giving more details and without the Commission deems it necessary to say for whom Fiona Scott Morton actually worked. Among its customers, we can nevertheless cite, among others, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.
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