EU’s Hogan Is ‘Profoundly Sorry’ as Dinner Puts Job on Line
EU Trade Chief Faces Growing Pressure to Explain Golf Outing
(Bloomberg) -- European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said on Sunday he’s “profoundly sorry” after his attendance at a golf dinner amid the coronavirus pandemic sparked outrage and calls for him to quit.
Hogan said in a statement delivered via Twitter he wished to “apologize fully and unreservedly” for attending the Oireachtas golf society dinner last week.
“I want, in particular, to apologize to the wonderful health care workers, who continue to put their lives on the line to combat Covid-19 and all people who have lost loved ones during this pandemic,” he said. “I acknowledge my actions have touched a nerve for the people of Ireland, something for which I am profoundly sorry.”
The statement comes after Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin and Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar spoke with Hogan on Saturday and “asked him to consider his position,” according to a government spokesperson.
Varadkar said on Sunday that Hogan’s apology “helps” but should have come sooner. Hogan still needs to be able to account for his actions around the golf event and if he has complied with Irish public health guidelines, Varadkar said on RTE Radio.
“If he’s not able to do that or can’t do that then he needs to consider his position,“ Varadkar said. Varadkar, who helped secure Hogan’s post while he was premier, still has confidence in Hogan’s abilities as trade commissioner, he added.
Hogan on Friday rejected calls to quit after he and about 80 others attended a function Wednesday organized by the Irish parliament’s golf society. While Hogan, the EU’s top trade negotiator, apologized at the time for “any distress caused,” he said he followed the government’s quarantine rules and had been assured that the event met Ireland’s pandemic guidelines. That wasn’t enough for the government leaders.
Police are investigating the event and opposition politicians are calling for Hogan to go. The EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, has issued a statement backing him.
Hogan’s post 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 global supply chains.
With Hogan as its point person, the EU has been pushing the Trump administration to scrap controversial tariffs on European 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.
It’s unusual for EU commissioners to step aside. The most striking case was in 1999 when the whole European Commission under Jacques Santer resigned because of a scandal involving France’s appointee, Edith Cresson.
Since then, the head of the commission — currently led by former German cabinet member Ursula von der Leyen — has more scope to ask individual commissioners to step down.
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