EU trade boss Phil Hogan resigns over ‘golfgate’
EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan has today resigned after breaching coronavirus restrictions by attending a golf dinner.
“It was becoming increasingly clear that the controversy concerning my recent visit to Ireland was becoming a distraction from my work as an EU Commissioner and would undermine my work in the key months ahead”, Hogan said in a statement.
Earlier this week, it had emerged that Hogan had attended a dinner in his native Ireland with 80 people last week.
Subsequently, he came under pressure when it became clear he had not completed 14 days of self-isolation in line with the rules for incoming travellers to Ireland.
In the aftermath of the event, which plunged the Irish government into chaos, prime minister Micheal Martin and deputy premier Leo Varadkar called on Hogan to consider his position.
They said that he had “undermined public confidence”.
He will be the third political figure to resign after attending the dinner. Dara Calleary, Ireland’s agriculture minister, has already done so.
Hogan, one of the most powerful figures in the EU’s bureaucracy, had previously said he would not resign over the scandal.
Just hours after apologising for attending on Monday, however, Hogan’s office disclosed that he had been stopped “for using his mobile phone while driving” to the event.
Before the Open newsletter: Start your day with the City View podcast and key market data
The revelation added to the pressure on the trade commissioner, who oversees the bloc’s trading arrangements and was due to lead the EU’s post-Brexit trade negotiations with the UK.
Yesterday he gave a detailed description of his trip to Ireland to the Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen.
The event came the day after the Irish government tightened restrictions on gatherings in response to rising coronavirus cases.
Numerous high profile figures were in attendance at the Oireachtas [Irish parliament] golf society dinner.
Now Gardai, Irish police, are investigating if the event breached regulations.