EU trade chief Hogan quits amid storm over breach of virus rules

The European Union’s trade chief, Phil Hogan, stepped down after growing criticism that he broke virus regulations in his native Ireland.

“This evening I have tendered my resignation,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. “It was becoming increasingly clear that the controversy concerning my recent visit to Ireland was becoming a distraction from my work.”

The resignation was accepted immediately by his boss, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who will now have to move quickly to fill the key post. Hogan was under growing pressure over his attendance at a golf dinner last week that violated coronavirus regulations as well as his behavior during quarantine upon arrival in his home country.

The move came a day after Ireland’s government said that Hogan’s “delayed and hesitant” response impaired public confidence.

Hogan’s resignation comes at a sensitive time in trade negotiations. The EU will have to fill a critical role that has become even more high profile as a result of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” challenge to the global commercial order and a pandemic-induced shock to supply chains.

Von der Leyen’s decision to make Hogan EU trade chief when her commission took office in December was widely regarded as politically astute. That’s because Hogan handled tricky international trade matters in his previous job as agriculture commissioner and because his Irish nationality offered scope to improve EU relations with U.S. political actors.

That said, the commission has a well-oiled trade bureaucracy and EU policy in this area is far from dependent on any single person, including one like Hogan, who regarded himself—and who was widely viewed—as a dealmaker.

He “was a key actor over the past five years,” Martin Selmayr, former secretary general of the commission, wrote on Twitter, adding that the EU-Japan trade accord may not have happened without him.

Police Investigation

Hogan spent days trying to put the scandal behind him to no avail as Irish media kept reporting new potential breaches.

He apologized repeatedly for attending the dinner in Ireland during the pandemic, an event under police investigation for being in breach of rules that already led to the resignation of a minister in the country’s national government. The trade chief accepted he should not have gone, but reiterated he had been assured it complied with virus restrictions.

He lost more support after a testy interview with the national broadcaster on Tuesday that was designed to put the matter behind him. Instead it made matters worse when he insisted he had not broken any rules when he left his self-isolation for a “medical intervention” six days after arriving in the country.

The rules stipulate that travelers to the country must self-isolate for 14 days.

“It is clear that breaches of public health guidelines were made by Commissioner Hogan since he traveled to Ireland,” Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin, Leo Varadkar, the deputy prime minister, and Green coalition partner Eamon Ryan said in response to his TV appearance. “People are correctly angered by these actions given the sacrifices so many have made to adhere to public health guidance.”

His departure will create all sorts of headaches for the EU’s executive arm as it gets ready to go back to work.

Key Negotiator

With Hogan as its point person, the EU has been pushing the Trump administration to scrap controversial tariffs on steel and aluminum, ward off threats of more U.S. duties on European goods including cars and negotiate a settlement to a longstanding transatlantic fight over aircraft subsidies.

The 27-nation bloc is also seeking to prop up the World Trade Organization after its ability to adjudicate disputes was hobbled by Washington, expand a free-trade push by reaching tariff-cutting deals with Australia and New Zealand and achieve a breakthrough in negotiations to open the Chinese market more to foreign investors.

On Aug. 21, Hogan and his U.S. counterpart Robert Lighthizer announced a limited tariff-cutting accord and signaled the deal could pave the way for a broader improvement in transatlantic trade relations.

That $200 million deal, which includes an EU pledge to eliminate tariffs on American lobster, came hours after the commission expressed support for Hogan in the controversy over the golf dinner.

Striking Case

With the current commission only recently taking office, losing such a key figure will likely shake confidence in its executive. It’s also unusual for EU commissioners to step aside. The most striking case was in 1999 when the whole commission under Jacques Santer resigned because of a scandal involving a French appointee.

Von der Leyen, a German ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, may be forced by Hogan’s resignation to shuffle her team of EU commissioners once Ireland proposes a new appointee.

Von der Leyen is responsible for assigning portfolios to commissioners, of whom there is one from every member country. She may prefer to hand the trade role to one of the commissioners now handling other policy matters.