EU’s Hogan Declines to Enter Race for Top Post at the WTO
EU’s Hogan Declines to Enter Race for Top Job at the WTO
(Bloomberg) -- European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said Monday he’s declining to enter the race to be the next director-general of the World Trade Organization.
“I have decided that I will not be putting my name forward for the position,” Hogan said in a statement. “I will return to my duties of Trade Commissioner with immediate effect.”
Hogan had the backing from the Irish government to run for the post as recently as last week, but he ultimately decided to stay on as EU trade chief to help navigate a critical moment for the 27-nation bloc’s trade agenda.
In addition to addressing the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the European trade commission is in the midst of negotiations with the U.K. over the terms their post-Brexit relationship and simultaneously bracing for the prospect of renewed trade tensions with the U.S.
“This important EU Trade Agenda requires the full and careful involvement of the European Union and in particular, the Trade Commissioner,” Hogan said.
The WTO itself faces some uphill battles including the worst year for global trade since the Great Depression, a wave of subsidies deployed by governments to fight recessions and a U.S. push to overhaul the quarter-century-old institution that presides over the rules of international commerce.
Hogan acknowledged that the race to select the WTO’s next leader will likely extend past September, when the Geneva-based organization’s current Director-General Roberto Azevedo steps down.
Azevedo announced in mid-May that he’d depart Aug. 31, a year shy of his second four-year term that began in 2017. The WTO’s selection procedure typically takes about six months and may well extend beyond the U.S. presidential election in November.
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