11.14.19
Gemini version available ♊︎Thierry Breton’s Video/Live Grilling is Over, But the Grilling Continues Online
Summary: Elite politicians aren’t reluctant to give Thierry Breton the high seat (or throne); but everyone else realises that this resembles a corporate takeover more than anything
THIS morning we published part 2 of a series we are eager to publish fast (but not too fast). Earlier this week we published the introduction, teaser and part 1 (out of nearly 20; still work in progress). We wrote a bunch of other articles about Thierry Breton and the main series will continue tomorrow (“Mister Cash” Arrives at France Télécom is the latest part and we’ll look at it more closely). We’ll try to publish at least one article per day on this topic (weekends included).
“We’ll try to publish at least one article per day (weekends included).”Many parallels can be found in France Télécom, e.g. similarities to EPO suicides and other scandals. Sociopaths care about “results” (an odd notion of them) and treat human beings as cannon fodder.
The ‘grilling’ of Breton turned out to be somewhat farcical, based on what we hear in IRC. It finished a short while ago and some of us watched it. Maybe we’ll make use of clips from it some time soon. We can publish these as asides (from our ongoing series)
“We’re meanwhile looking at this personal Web site, which he put offline (the Web Archive/Internet Archive does not forget!).”“Breton is now set to regulate over his former industry,” Corporate Europe wrote this week, “being able to make decisions that affect his the company he used to lead and its competitors. He can also be lobbied by former colleagues. Unacceptable.”
It is even worse than that. Quoting the above, one person wrote: “considering the immense overlap between his portfolio and his previous work in the areas of defence, security, competition & tech, if @EU_Commission were to set up the necessary safeguards, Breton would be nearly unable to do his new job…”
We’re meanwhile looking at this personal Web site, which he put offline (the Web Archive/Internet Archive does not forget!).
“Guess where Breton stands on patent policy…”Self harm to the EU’s reputation would be the inevitable effect of conformation for Breton. “JURI majority clears Thierry Breton from a potential conflict of interest,” wrote one person. “A former industry manager writing the rules for his former company and industry erodes public trust in his acting in the public interest (rather than industry interest).”
That’s the same JURI mentioned a lot in relation to the UPC lately (we’ll mention the UPC in our next post). Guess where Breton stands on patent policy….
“Unless the EU reforms its flawed ethical system to verify conflict of interest of holders of public office,” wrote another person, “its political action will be severely curtailed or won’t even seen the light of the day,” quoting this article that says: “S&D Euro MPs expressed their disappointment following the decision in the legal affairs committee, due to the support of right wing political groups, to allow the French Commissioner-designate Thierry Breton to be cleared without additional questions being asked about what has happened to the money made from selling off his shares in Atos. As a former CEO of companies that are directly linked to his portfolio as Commissioner-designate in charge of internal market, the S&D Group pushed for written questions to be addressed to Thierry Breton to clarify his current assets as well as how he intends to avoid conflicts of interests in his future role.” █
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