A professional move by one of the European Commission’s top antitrust officials to a New York-based legal firm has precipitated a formal investigation by the EU Ombudsman over potential conflicts of interest.
The European Commission was publicly warned by Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly about a “negative impact on public trust” as well as a potential spike in “Eurosceptic sentiment” after the EU’s antitrust director Henrik Morch opted for a job with the American multinational law firm Paul Weiss after a 33-year career working in EU institutions.
Specialising in mergers and acquisitions, as well as navigating regulatory frameworks for major corporations, legal giant Paul Weiss gloated about Morch’s defection to the company on their webpage, saying that the former Danish Eurocrat would take a role in their Brussels antitrust office.
The mention that Morch would partake in antitrust activities after years of helping to set EU policy on the matter ran afoul of Commission regulations, the Ombudsman claimed, as O’Reilly alleged that the former Eurocrat “benefits from that inside knowledge” he garnered while working at Berlaymont.
The Ombudsman has requested the Commission release all documents pertaining to Morch’s departure to the legal firm, since former Eurocrats are restricted from working for the private sector lobbying the EU for a minimum period of 12 months under 2022 rules to curb corruption.
Under EU law, the European Commission plays a defining role in antitrust matters across the bloc. The overlap between Eurocrats and the private sector is particularly sensitive when former officials migrate to the financial, energy, and legal sectors.
A crackdown on officials in the aftermath of the Qatargate corruption scandal—involving Gulf and Moroccan money influencing the EU through a covert nexus of NGOs and companies—has hastened the calls for reform in Brussels after the vice president of the EU Parliament was arrested for allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for whitewashing Qatar’s human rights record.
The Office of the Ombudsman, the chief ethics body for the EU, has the authority to request that the European Commission hand over all documents relating to Morch’s move to the private sector and has played a leading role in examining Brussels’ handling of its controversial vaccine rollout.
Representatives for Paul Weiss have so far declined to comment on the matter. The company has indicated that it chose Brussels as its new hub to obtain the inside track on EU regulation.
