A Co Clare native, Anthony Whelan, recognised as a discreet yet effective operative in Brussels, has provisionally assumed the role of Chief of Staff for European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. Mr Whelan, a 55-year-old, seasoned EU advisor and trained barrister, took on this prominent position and will hold it until early June.
Björn Seibert, the head of cabinet before him, took a brief hiatus from the role to lead Dr von der Leyen’s re-election campaign. With her penchant for concentrating power within a close-knit group of trusted deputies, Dr von der Leyen appears to rely heavily on the influential Mr Seibert, who is a respected figure in the Brussels sphere.
Mr Whelan enrolled as an advisor on digital policy on Dr von der Leyen’s team at the end of 2019. His responsibilities included liaising with leading tech conglomerates and he held meetings with heads from major companies such as Meta, Google, Amazon, Stripe, and Microsoft in the recent past.
Moreover, he has had interactions with executives from leading telecom companies, like Huawei, Vodafone and Nokia, per the EU officials’ meetings’ register. As part of his role within the cabinet, he has established connections with Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s digital and competition commissioner, who is renowned in Ireland for her pursuit of Apple over taxes.
An EU official who had past interactions with him characterised Mr Whelan as exceedingly productive in an understated manner. His interim role as the chief of cabinet speaks volumes of Dr von der Leyen’s trust in him.
Before his tenure in her cabinet, Mr Whelan served in the capacity of the commission’s director of electronic communications networks and services. Prior to that, he was the head of cabinet for Neelie Kroes, a Dutch politician who served as commissioner for competition and the digital agenda from 2008 to 2013.
Born in Scariff, he attended Cistercian College Roscrea, a fee-paying institution in Co Tipperary. Post his school education, Mr Whelan pursued law at Trinity College Dublin, where he was an active participant in the Hist debating society.
Following his barrister training, he made his way back to Trinity in his mid-twenties to undertake a brief role as a public law lecturer. His contemporaries recognized him as a highly intelligent lecturer, but they also described him as “a young man in a rush”. Students held him in high regard and he often participated in legal discussions during this period.
His transition to working within the EU institutions was triggered by the appointment of ex-Supreme Court judge Nial Fennelly as an advocate general in the European Court of Justice. The news circulated that a cabinet would be assembled and he decided to take advantage of the situation by stepping forward. It eventually worked in his favour and he was invited to become a part of it. This phase of his career path wasn’t in his primary plans, Mr Whelan admitted in an interview with Trinity law student publication, The Eagle.
After a span of five years, he took up a role in the legal service of the commission where he frontlined a well-publicized case against Microsoft in 2006. The court fined the tech behemoth a record-breaking €500 million for competition law infringement.
An insider, who has known Mr Whelan for several years, described him as an exceptionally honourable individual. They also noted that he had a vibrant sense of humour and earned the affection of his peers.
Given that the commission typically functions as an assembly line of EU law creation, it’s not anticipated to release any new proposals before the European elections in two months. Nevertheless, there is a substantial amount of work, addressing an array of areas, yet to be completed – this includes discreet planning for the potential reelection of US President Donald Trump in November.