Macron slams EU Commission for hiring American economist

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday questioned the European Commission's decision to appoint U.S. professor Fiona Scott Morton as chief economist of its competition department.

Macron told reporters that he was "skeptical" of Scott Morton's appointment and said the move was not "coherent" with Brussels' strategic autonomy goals.

"Strategic autonomy [also means] you need to have autonomy of thought," he said as he left the EU-CELAC summit in Brussels, noting that "this is not necessarily the most coherent decision in this respect."

Over the past days France has been the fiercest opponent of Scott Morton's appointment, calling on the Commission to retract the job offer.

Macron said he was waiting for more clarification from the Commission and regretted that Brussels derogated on the requirement that Commission officials should be EU citizens.

The French President stressed that neither the U.S. nor China would allow something similar, adding that it would be "extremely worrying" if this choice meant that there is no EU scholar with the same credentials.

Scott Morton's potential conflicts of interest are yet another reason to question the appointment, according to the French president.

Having advised Big Tech companies on competition matters, Scott Morton will have to recuse herself from any cases involving companies for which she has worked in the past year.

"She has been hired by many companies, and so she had to express her views on many situations, which means that she should recuse herself on these situations, which makes what she has been hired for rather ineffective."