Ursula von der Leyen’s pick for €17,000-a-month EU envoy role withdraws amid cronyism row

Ursula von der Leyen (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Kate Abnett

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday her pick for the EU's new business envoy had decided not to take up the post, after critics linked the appointment to cronyism.

The European Commission, the EU's executive body, has reiterated that it followed all the rules in picking Markus Pieper, a lawmaker from von der Leyen's German centre-right party, as a special envoy for small- and medium-sized businesses.