Dombrovskis To Be Interim EU Trade Boss After Hogan Quits

London - The European Commission said Thursday that financial markets chief Valdis Dombrovskis will act as the bloc's temporary trade commissioner after Phil Hogan quit amid controversy about his compliance with pandemic rules in his native Ireland.

Ursala von der Leyen, president of the commission, said she will invite the Irish government to nominate one man and one woman to replace Hogan. He has served as trade commissioner since 2019 and for five years before that he was the EU's agriculture commissioner, but he stepped down on Wednesday after being accused of failing to follow guidelines when he attended a golfing dinner. It is not certain that the person replacing Hogan as commissioner from Ireland will get the trade portfolio.

Dombrovskis is executive vice president at the commission with responsibility for financial regulation. The former Latvian Prime Minister has also served as an EU commissioner since 2014.

The commission negotiates trade policy on behalf of the EU's 27 member states and would be forced to react if the United States enacted tariffs on European products in response to taxes which the US claims disproportionately harm large American technology companies.

The U.S. and France engaged in a high-profile trade dispute earlier this year over France's digital tax, which did not calm down until the French agreed to suspend collection of the tax until the end of the year. Hogan said in January that the EU will support France and any other country in the bloc that enacts digital taxes.

Hogan has come under pressure about his apparent failure to follow guidelines about movement in Ireland to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. He said in his resignation letter that he broke no law but should have been "more rigorous" about complying with public health guidelines. 

Von der Leyen said Thursday that she had discussed with Hogan his recent travels in Ireland.

"In the current circumstances, as Europe fights to reduce the spread of the coronavirus and Europeans make sacrifices and accept painful restrictions, I expect the members of the College [of commissioners] to be particularly vigilant about compliance with applicable national or regional rules or recommendations," she said. 

Von der Leyen said that she would decide at a "later stage" on a more permanent allocation of portfolios within the college of 27 commissioners, which serves as the EU's executive branch. Each member state usually has a commissioner, although they are meant to act for the common European interest and not as formal representatives of their home states.

The office of the Irish prime minister, known as the Taioseach, did not have an immediate response to a request for comment about when it would nominate a new commissioner.

--Editing by Ed Harris.

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