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Markus Pieper was appointed on 31 January — despite claims that two female candidates were more qualified. He quit on Tuesday, the day he was supposed to take up the role (Photo: European Parliament)

New EU envoy Markus Pieper quits before taking up post

Markus Pieper has decided not to take up his role as the EU's small and medium-sized enterprises envoy, in a surprise U-turn following strong criticism over his appointment.

The last-minute decision comes after MEPs called on the European Commission to rescind Pieper's appointment and after four EU commissioners (Josep Borrell, Thierry Breton, Paolo Gentiloni and Nicolas Schmit) criticised the controversial move.

The German ...

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Author Bio

Elena is EUobserver's Managing Editor. She is from Spain and has studied journalism and new media in Spanish and Belgian universities. Previously she worked on European affairs at VoteWatch Europe and the Spanish news agency EFE.

Markus Pieper was appointed on 31 January — despite claims that two female candidates were more qualified. He quit on Tuesday, the day he was supposed to take up the role (Photo: European Parliament)

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Author Bio

Elena is EUobserver's Managing Editor. She is from Spain and has studied journalism and new media in Spanish and Belgian universities. Previously she worked on European affairs at VoteWatch Europe and the Spanish news agency EFE.

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