On Tuesday, July 11th, the European Commission appointed American Fiona Scott Morton as chief economist at the directorate-general for competition. The Commission’s selection has raised a number of questions about the appropriateness of choosing a non-European figure to deal with an issue as sensitive as economic competition. In France, hostility towards the expert economist is so extreme that calls are being made for her dismissal.
Fiona Scott Morton has impressive credentials. She has taught at the School of Management at the prestigious Yale University in the United States since 1999. She has extensive experience in antitrust law, having worked in the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 2011-2012, during the Barack Obama era. More recently, she has specialised in digital markets, working on antitrust enforcement against Google and Facebook.
Her track record in the highest spheres has won over the European authorities, who have not hesitated to entrust her with a more-than-sensitive portfolio, even though a degree of caution would have been in order. This would be the first time that a non-European has held such a strategic position within the European institutions. In the past, Scott Morton has worked for a number of major web companies, including Apple and Meta—the very companies she is now supposed to be fighting against in her new post. Through Fiona Scott Morton, the United States and these global tech giants could quite obviously increase their influence on European politics, her detractors fear.
In France, opposition to her appointment has been growing in recent days, in political circles with divergent interests. As early as Wednesday, July 12th, Les Républicains MP Julien Aubert sounded the alarm over the arrival of an American at the heart of the European administration, at a time when a veritable economic war is raging between Europe and the United States.
On Thursday, July 13th, the sovereignist magazine Front Populaire devoted an article to Fiona Scott Morton, pointing out the danger of a conflict of interest and the fascination of the Brussels elites for a profile that, while brilliant, is the antithesis of European interests. On the same day, Foreign Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna denounced the appointment and called on the Commission to reconsider its choice. Minister for the digital economy Jean-Noël Barrot expressed his reservations about her credibility in the position, when the stakes on digital issues have never been higher. The secretary of state for European affairs, Laurence Boone, therefore entered into discussions with the Commission to voice French concerns, which are shared by other Commission officials behind the scenes, who deplore the lack of discussion and the lightness of the investigations carried out into Scott Morton’s profile prior to her recruitment.
In response to the attacks by members of the French government, Commission spokeswoman Arianna Podestà was keen to justify her choice on the basis of the candidate’s excellent qualifications, thereby indicating that the Commission had selected Scott Morton on essentially technocratic criteria, disregarding political considerations such as the defence of European sovereignty. Scott Morton was “the best choice in terms of her qualifications and of her performance in the recruitment process,” Podestà said, stressing the Commission’s vigilance to guard against potential conflicts of interest that might arise in the performance of Scott Morton’s duties.
At the European Parliament, the leaders of the EPP group, S&D group, Renew group, and Greens group have also written to the Commission asking it to “reverse this decision.”
“At a time when our institutions are under scrutiny for foreign interference, we do not understand why non-European candidates are being considered for such a strategic and high-level post,” they explain in a letter dated Friday, July 14th, and addressed to the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager.
For the moment, the European Commission “sees no reason to reconsider” the controversial recruitment of Scott Morton.
