Phil Hogan resigns after violating corona rules

Phil Hogan submitted his resignation as European Trade Commissioner on Wednesday 26 August. The reason is the violation of the corona measures during one of his trips to Ireland, reports Reuters news agency.

Hogan was last week attended a dinner with 80 members of the Oireachtas Golf Society (a society for Irish MPs). Not all corona rules were enforced during dinner. For example, there were too many people in the room and not enough distance was kept. The fuss now means that Hogan has submitted his resignation to EC president Ursula von der Leyen. Dara Calleary, Ireland's Secretary of State for Agriculture, also took part in this dinner and resigned last Friday.

Public travel movements
At von der Leyen's request, Hogan recently had to make his travel moves public. This already showed that not all his trips can be labeled as 'necessary'. Hogan has also not adhered to the 14-day self-isolation measure. It was a reason for Michael Martin, the Irish Prime Minister, to argue that Phil Hogan has undermined the approach to public health in Ireland.

Hogan had been active in Europe for years. Before he became the European Commissioner for Trade, he was the European Commissioner for Agriculture from the beginning of 2014 to 2019. In von der Leyen's cabinet, Hogan was responsible, among other things, for safeguarding Europe's trade interests. He also had an important role in Brexit and the new relationship with the United Kingdom.

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

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