French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday criticised a move by the European Union’s antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager to hire a U.S. economist for a key EU antitrust job.
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“It implies we have a very serious problem with all the academic systems in Europe,” said Macron, as he expressed his astonishment at the fact that a European Union national could not have been found for the job.
Macron added he was “attached to reciprocity” and noted that the United States and China would not have appointed an overseas national in such a role.
The appointment of Fiona Scott Morton, 56, the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Justice during former President Barack Obama’s tenure, has been criticised by France and leaders of the main political groups at the European Parliament.
Concern has focused on why a non-EU citizen was picked to advise the European Commission on its investigations into Big Tech and its enforcement of a series of landmark rules to rein in tech giants.
Macron added that Scott Morton had previously worked for “many companies”, which could also result in potential conflicts of interest.
“So there we have it, lots of questions I have to ask myself over this, which leads me to be very doubtful,” said Macron, commenting on Vestager’s choice.
(Reuters)
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