US economist picked for senior EU antitrust job overseeing Big Tech

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - An American economist who was a senior antitrust official during former President Barack Obama's tenure, Fiona Scott Morton, has been appointed chief competition economist at the European Commission, the EU executive body said on Tuesday.

Scott Morton, 56, will take up her post on Sept. 1 when the current chief economist, Pierre Regibeau, retires. Scott Morton will be both the first U.S. national and first woman appointed to the job.

She will play a key role in the EU competition enforcer's investigations into Alphabet's Google, Apple, Meta Platforms and Microsoft, as well high-profile mergers like Amazon's acquisition of iRobot and Adobe's Figma deal.

Scott Morton currently holds a chair as professor of economics at the Yale School of Management and is affiliated with the University of Edinburgh. She is also a senior consultant to Charles River Associates, a consultancy which advises a number of tech giants.

Scott Morton was the chief economist at the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice between May 2011 and December 2012.

Her appointment to the elite antitrust unit at the European Commission drew criticism even before it was announced.

In May, Balanced Economy Project, Corporate Europe Observatory, European Digital SME Alliance, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, LobbyControl and Open Markets Institute (Europe), in a joint letter, voiced their concerns to EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager.

They pointed to possible conflicts of interest and Scott Morton's opinions on tackling excessive concentrations of economic power.

Some economists and antitrust experts applauded her appointment, pointing to an impressive portfolio of work and articles.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Leslie Adler)