Rome (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – France designates Stéphane Séjourné as European Commissioner after Thierry Breton steps down.
French President Emmanuel Macron has assigned outgoing foreign minister Stéphane Séjourné to become the country’s next European Commissioner after Thierry Breton suddenly resigned from his post and drew his bid for a second term earlier. In a statement, the Élysée Palace stated that the decision was driven “in accordance” with newly-appointed Prime Minister Michel Barnier, and proved France was turning to a “key” portfolio related to “industrial and technological sovereignty” and “European competitiveness.”
It adds that Séjourné’s previous experience, as chair of Macron’s centrist Renew Europe group in the European Parliament and as France’s Minister of Europe and foreign affairs, qualifies him to take the bridles of such a prestigious portfolio.
What led to Thierry Breton’s sudden resignation from the EU post?
Earlier on the day, Thierry Breton, Macron’s man in Brussels who has acted as European Commissioner for the internal market since 2019, exited his re-election bid after what he described as efforts by EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to pressure France to substitute him “for personal reasons.”
“A few days ago . . . you requested France to withdraw my name — for personal reasons that in no instance you have consulted directly with me — and offered as a political trade-off an allegedly more effective portfolio for France,” he stated in a letter to von der Leyen. Von der Leyen’s efforts were “further testimony to uncertain governance” of the commission, Breton expressed, adding that he would resign immediately.
Breton argues von der Leyen offered a more influential portfolio for Breton’s potential replacement “as a political trade-off,” firing indictments of “questionable governance” towards the EU Commission President.
Breton delivered no details of the “personal reasons” cited for von der Leyen’s alleged intervention during what he characterised as “the very final stretch of negotiations of the arrangement of the future college”, as the commissioners are collectively comprehended in the EU. The allegations, on which the EU Commission abstained from commenting, have drawn fierce denunciation even from Macron’s political rivals in France.
