In 2016, he mocked the Chinese men he met: "all in suits, with the same one-pocket navy-blue jacket, all with their hair combed from left to right, with black shoe polish." Eight years on, former European commissioner Günther Oettinger, now a lobbyist, is working for Shein, the ultra-ephemeral Chinese online fashion giant, anxious to improve its image in Europe at a time when Europe intends to adopt regulations that could hamper its business.
The company, founded in 2008, is now valued at almost €60 billion and is preparing an IPO on the London Stock Exchange where authorities are calling for tighter monitoring of its sourcing practices and transparency in its supply chain.
The low-cost "ultra-fast fashion" company – that has been criticized by MEPs in particular for the environmental impact of its operations, working conditions in its factories, and the alleged presence of toxic products in some of its garments and acts of plagiarism –fears the reinforcement of European provisions on consumer protection and customs duties. In 2023, the Commission proposed to abolish the exemption from these duties for parcels under €150. This could have a detrimental effect on the e-commerce giant's business model.
It was clearly in an attempt to influence the reforms being prepared in Brussels that the company enlisted Oettinger's services at the beginning of the summer. The 70-year-old German, a member of the right-wing CDU, successively held the positions of European Commissioner for Energy, Digital Economy and Budget from 2010 to 2019. By 2020, he had made headlines by submitting 13 lobbying authorization requests to the Commission.
Portuguese José Manuel Barroso's transition from the Commission presidency (2004-2014) to Goldman Sachs bank had prompted some timid reforms in 2018, including the obligation for ex-Commissioners to wait two years before a possible switch, to avoid conflicts of interest.
Since then, Oettinger has founded his own consultancy firm and joined the advisory board of strategic consultancy Kekst CNC, to which Shein paid €199,999 in 2023, according to the European Union's (EU) transparency register. "Mr. Oettinger has an in-depth knowledge of the workings of the European administration and, combined with his access to the influential networks of the CDU and the European People's Party, it could give him a disproportionate influence on the formulation and implementation of European policies," said Hakim Lattef, a researcher in European politics at the Flemish Catholic University of Leuven.
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