The European Commission’s controversial political appointment of German MEP Markus Pieper an EU SME envoy was cancelled on Tuesday after he himself had renounced the post.
As previously reported, the European Parliament voted last week against the appointment in the discharge debate on 2022 EU budget. The MEPs criticized the politicised process to appoint Pieper as EU’s SME Envoy “despite having been outqualified (...) by the two remaining female candidates from underrepresented member states”.
Pieper was due to take office this week. In a surprise move on Tuesday, he twitted that he renounced the post because French Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton had blocked him. I his tweets to his ca 2,450 followers on X, Pieper insisted that he had “successfully faced a very demanding selection procedure” and accused Breton of being motivated by party politics.
But he seems not to have given up. He concluded his tweeting with stating that. “Things will look different after the European elections with the foreseeable new majorities.”
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accepted immediately the resignation of Pieper who had become a political liability. Commission chief spokesperson, Eric Mamer, commented yesterday that no appointment will be influenced by the elections.
Furthermore, the Commission sees no reason to carry out any wider review of the failed recruitment of Pieper. Asked if an external investigation by the European Ombudsman of the affair could be useful, the spokesperson dismissed the question as rhetorical. “There is no reason to launch any investigation since the Commission respected all the relevant procedures,” he told The Brussels Times.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
