Shein hires former EU commissioner for lobbying: ‘Monetizing contacts, German style’

On the fact that Gunther Oettinger will lobby for Shein, The Chinese sales platform is preparing for a debut on the London Stock Exchange and, as it turns out, is starting to actively work in this direction. Oettinger is supposed to help them “navigate” through EU politics. Shein has a number of problems that it faces, including potential Currently, there is no need to pay import duties on packages worth less than $150, which has created foreign competition that threatens EU retailers. Duty on packages could be a shock for low-cost sellers like Temu and Shein, which will most likely lobby against such changes.

Former EU Commissioner to lobby for Shein. Polish journalists criticize

“Ahaha, Bloomberg reports that China’s Shein has just hired Gunther Oettinger, former commissioner for digital markets, to lobby on their behalf in Brussels. Monetizing your network of contacts, German style. And remember, you can even monetize people you’ve offended” –

“They must have had a bad recruitment process, since they chose a politician with such a poor reputation after a series of scandals,” Sylwia Czubkowska, a technology journalist, commented on Oettinger’s choice. In 2016, during one of his public appearances, Oettinger spoke about the challenges facing the European Union in the face of China’s expansion. At that time, he called the citizens of that country an offensive word which in Polish can be translated as “slant-eyed”. The German politician later had to apologize for this.

Journalists also have concerns about EU regulations that allow lobbying by people like Oettinger. “By the way, I think we really should implement regulations that prohibit former EU officials from working for entities from third countries (i.e. outside the EU),” says an energy analyst and journalist.

“However, this is much lower than Uber employing former Commissioner Neelie Kroes, and this right after the 18-month cooling-off period, i.e. a ban on working for the business after working for the EC. The European Anti-Fraud Office even initiated an inspection (it did not bring charges). But as you can see, the strategies of Big Techs (this is how the EU classifies Shein – ed.) are contagious,” Czubkowska points out.

Shein is no longer doing so well in the European Union. The Chinese platform is under pressure

The European Commission took aim at ultra-fast fashion in 2021, when Ursula von der Leyen described it as “poison,” a reference to the environmental toll that cheap, disposable clothing can take. But Shein has not been deterred, and is preparing an initial public offering of shares that could be valued at £50 billion ($64 billion) when it goes public.

The Chinese platform has been recognized as a large online platform and brought under the Digital Services Act. This allows the EU to better control it. Shein therefore faces several challenges in its expansion into the European market. The choice of Gunther Oettinger as their lobbyist makes sense, considering that in the European Commission he was the commissioner for energy, budget and digital economy. The German politician sits on the advisory board of the consulting firm Kekst CNC, to which Shein transferred 199,999 euros last year. Last year, Shein spent 2.5 million dollars on lobbying in the US and the EU. The company has committed to spending 70 million dollars over five years to improve its supply chain.

Shein also has a problem with accusations of selling counterfeits. The problem is said to be improper presentation of prices, lack of information about the seller, use of false counters and messages misleading customers. In addition, the UOKiK will check whether the items sold on both platforms meet the standards and whether the prices on the website match those in Facebook ads.