Executive Vice President Margaret Vestager was answering questions from lawmakers about considering ceding the top Cabinet job to a U.S. citizen.
Thierry Monas | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Europe’s powerful competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, has come under fire for hiring a US citizen to one of the top jobs on her team.
Vestager has been leading investigations into big tech companies for nearly a decade. He will answer questions from European lawmakers on Tuesday after appointing Fiona Scott Morton, a professor at the Yale School of Management, as the European Commission’s chief competition economist. arm.
The harshest criticism came from members of the French government. French European Affairs Secretary Laurence Boone said on Twitter that she had spoken to Vestager about the nomination, adding that “Europe has many brilliant economists”.
“We have an immediate dialogue with the committee so that these appointments are in line with our European ambitions,” she said.
Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s minister for digital transformation and telecommunications, also tweeted, “As Europe embarks on the world’s most ambitious digital regulation, the recently appointed Competition for the Director-General’s Chief Economist (DG) is not without raising legitimate questions.”
“I invite the European Commission to reconsider its options,” he added.
In an interview with CNBC, a spokesperson for the commission highlighted comments previously announced by the Brussels agency: “Fiona Scott Morton has an outstanding academic background coupled with decades of economic experience. Analytical and competition policy experience with a solid understanding of market dynamics and regulatory frameworks.”
“Her record in advising government agencies underscores her ability to provide strategic and informed guidance on complex economic issues, making her well-suited to advise on economic aspects related to EU policymaking and enforcement of competition rules.”
Scott Morton holds a BA and Ph.D. from Yale University. PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From May 2011 to December 2012, she also worked on economic analysis in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. One of the biggest questions raised, however, was her experience advising large tech companies.
A group of MEPs wrote to Vestager last week saying they were “dismayed to learn” of the appointment.
“We are very concerned about the contrary views she has publicly expressed and the potential conflict of interest between her new role and her previous function at a large US technology company,” they said in the letter. a legislator on twitter.
A spokesperson for the committee previously explained that there was a “limited number of applications”. Scott Morton will begin his new role in September.
Correction: The European Commission is the executive arm of the European Union. Earlier versions misrepresented its status.