On Friday 14 July, European Commission spokeswoman Dana Spinant said there was no reason to reconsider the appointment of the American Fiona Scott Morton as chief economist at the Directorate-General for Competition, despite criticism from the European Parliament and France.
“The decision has been made. We see no reason to reconsider it”, she explained to the media.
On Tuesday 11 July, the College of Commissioners decided to appoint Ms Scott Morton, following a procedure in which 11 candidates - including Europeans - took part. “Ms Scott Morton was the person who best met the criteria” for the position, added Ms Spinant. In her view, the post was not empowered to make decisions, but has an advisory role on economic issues within DG Competition.
The American is due to take up her post, for an initial period of 3 years, from September.
A professor of economics at Yale University, Scott Morton served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2011 to 2012. She has also worked as a consultant for Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.
Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari said that Ms Scott Morton will not be able to work on cases she has worked on in the past or, for two years, on cases involving companies she has worked for.
Earlier in the day, in a joint letter, the presidents or co-presidents of the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA groups in the European Parliament had asked the Commission to cancel this appointment, stating that they were opposed to it. “At the time of intense scrutiny of our institutions vis a vis foreign interference, we fail to understand the consideration of non-EU candidates for such high ranking and strategic position”, they stress in their letter. With regard to Ms Scott Morton in particular, MEPs said they were “very concerned” about her publicly expressed opposition to the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the potential conflict of interest between her new role and her previous positions with major US technology companies.
On 13 July, several members of the French government asked the Commission to reconsider this decision. The Minister for Digital Transition, Jean-Noël Barrot, said that this appointment raised “legitimate questions” at a time when Europe was “embarking on the most ambitious digital regulation in the world”. See the letter (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/833 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)