Commissioners join questioning over choice of SME envoy

Group echoes MEPs in expressing concern around appointment of Commission president’s fellow party member

Several EU commissioners have joined in the questioning of how their institution decided who to appoint as a representative for small and medium-sized enterprises earlier this year.

German MEP Markus Pieper (pictured) was appointed SME Envoy at the Commission in February. He is to report to the institution’s president, German politician Ursula von der Leyen—a member of the same party as Pieper, the Christian Democratic Union—and its internal market commissioner, the Frenchman Thierry Breton.