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Phil Hogan is speaking four months after his forced resignation as Ireland’s EU commissioner. It was an unprecedented resignation in the country’s 47 years of membership in the EU.
It came after days of controversy over his attendance at a politician’s golf outing and dinner in Clifden, Co Galway, and related questions about his movements while on vacation in Ireland during a time of Covid-19 restrictions.
The 60-year-old politician, a longtime Fine Gael electoral strategist, has not spoken of the controversy since his abrupt departure from office in Brussels on August 26.
Less than a year earlier, he received a new five-year EU mandate, along with a promotion to the prestigious post of Trade Commissioner, a pivotal appointment as Ireland argued its case in the final stages of Brexit negotiations.
When asked how things look now, his first response is to reflect on those who suffered from the pandemic.
“First of all, I am sorry for what happened and my thoughts are with the people who have suffered and who have been ill and who have died from the Covid pandemic. And I salute the great work that has been done and continues to be done by first-line services ”, he says.
But he also insists that, unlike Supreme Court Justice Séamus Woulfe, who was also involved in this controversy, he did not get a fair hearing or the opportunity to present his side of the various issues involved. He notes that Judge Woulfe has kept his job.
“I think that the majority of impartial people thought that what happened was disproportionate, and that was due to the due process that was given to Judge Séamus Woulfe and the report that Susan Denham made,” he insists.
“It would have been nice if I had some kind of due process. When that was given to Séamus Woulfe, you can see that all the details could come out, ”Hogan adds.
He suggests that it was one set of criteria for a politician and another for a non-politician. “But it was the context, I suppose, of the political frenzy at that time last August,” he notes.
On the questions of who was to blame for the “lack of due process,” the shutters are thrown open quickly. Instead, it talks about moving on to a new chapter in life.
But did you feel you received “tough justice” from your “local politicians”? There is no precedent in Ireland’s decades as a member of the EU that the Dublin government effectively seek the removal of its own candidate to Brussels.
Does Mr. Hogan feel that he was treated unfairly, especially by his former colleague from the Fine Gael party, Leo Varadkar? The expression of distrust of the then Tánaiste, along with that of the government colleagues, was crucial for his forced resignation.
“Well, I think it is up to others and commenters to come to conclusions about how these issues were addressed. I’m not going to get involved in that at this stage, ”is all he will say.
So what does the future hold for Phil Hogan now?
“I have a significant number of possibilities in terms of offers that have been made to me in the course of the last few weeks. I do not have the freedom to say in which sectors I will be involved.
“I am very aware of the code of conduct of the European Commission, with regard to the terms of leave of absence in matters that have a direct impact on what I have been doing during the last six years, especially in the last year in trade matters.”
Former EU commissioners are in high demand for their experience and knowledge of how the ‘Brussels machine’ works in practice. After six years on the EU policy governing committee, your contact book is a very useful asset.
He was first appointed to the EU Commission by the then Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the fall of 2014 and spent five years in charge of agriculture and rural development, a portfolio that still accounts for 40% of Brussels’ total budget.
In the fall of 2019, he was appointed a commissioner and moved up to the highest position in charge of commerce. It was highly valued by many in the EU capital and beyond.
Hogan was still considered influential within the wider Fine Gael organization and played a role in helping Varadkar secure party leadership and Taoiseach’s work in the summer of 2017. There was considerable surprise in political circles when Mr. Varadkar played a role in his expulsion from Brussels.
Judge Woulfe found himself at the center of controversy for his attendance at ‘Golfgate’ after being invited as a former Attorney General. But he kept his post, for which he had been appointed months before by the new tripartite coalition.
The appointment of the EU is the largest “plum” in the gift of the Taoiseach. But in choosing a replacement in 2020, Brussels had the most influence.
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