EU trade chief Hogan resigns over COVID rules controversy

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's top trade official resigned late Wednesday after he became embroiled in a controversy over a recent trip home to Ireland and questionable adherence to COVID-19 rules.

The move will force the EU's executive office to replace key commissioner Phil Hogan in the midst of the pandemic crisis, amid fraught trade relations with the United States and China, and as the final months of talks on a future deal with post-Brexit Britain approach.

“It was becoming increasingly clear that the controversy concerning my recent visit to Ireland was becoming a distraction from my work," Hogan said.

He has come under fire in his home country amid allegations he skirted rules other Irish citizens have to live by to contain the second wave of the pandemic: Not only had Hogan attended a posh golf dinner with some 80 guests when maximum attendance should have been much lower, but he was also criticized for traveling in parts of Ireland where a lockdown applied — and for emerging early from a mandatory two-week quarantine.

He contested some perceived errors but also acknowledged a fundamental flaw in not paying enough attention to the rigors of the anti-COVID-19 fight while the public at large was constrained from morning till night.

“I fully understand (people's) sense of hurt and anger when they feel that those in public service do not meet the standards expected of them,” he said. “As a public representative I should have been more rigorous in my adherence to the COVID guidelines.”

The EU has consistently underscored the importance of obeying all restrictions imposed by the 27 member countries, and turning a blind eye to infractions by its own top officials would undermine that effort.

“I reiterate my heartfelt apology to the Irish...