France’s EU commissioner Thierry Breton has resigned, criticising the “questionable governance” of the European Commission under president Ursula von der Leyen.
Mr Breton had earlier this summer been put forward for a second term and was in line for a senior position in Dr von der Leyen’s new team of EU commissioners, who are nominated by each EU country.
In a resignation letter published on the social media platform X, Mr Breton claimed Dr von der Leyen asked France to withdraw his name and nominate someone else in recent days in exchange for “an allegedly more influential portfolio”. Mr Breton, who had been commissioner for the internal market, had frequently clashed with Dr von der Leyen during the past five years.
In his letter to Dr von der Leyen on Monday, Mr Breton said her move to push France to pull his name had been made “for personal reasons that in no instance you have discussed directly with me”. The request came “a few days ago, in the very final stretch of negotiations”, he wrote.
The commission president had “offered, as a political trade-off, an allegedly more influential portfolio for France”, he said. The French politician criticised the “questionable governance” of the EU’s executive body under Dr von der Leyen.
Stéphane Séjourné, the French minister for foreign affairs, was nominated as France’s new commissioner, according to a statement from the Élysée Palace. Mr Séjourné is a close ally of French president Emmanuel Macron and secretary general of his centrist Renaissance party.
A spokeswoman for the European Commission said it would not be commenting on discussions with national capitals and the ongoing process of deciding what job each commissioner would be given. “We have not been commenting on this process until now and we will continue to not to comment in relation to this case,” she said.
Reporting by German publication Die Welt earlier this month indicated Mr Breton was being lined up for a senior position in the next commission team covering industrial policy and the EU’s strategic autonomy.
Ireland has nominated as its next EU commissioner former minister for finance Michael McGrath, who is believed to be in the frame for the commissioner for justice role, according to several commission and Fianna Fáil sources.
Dr von der Leyen had been scheduled to announce what portfolios she would be allocating to each commissioner on Tuesday. The public announcement was due to follow the commission president briefing the leaders of the eight political groupings in the European Parliament, during a meeting in Strasbourg. The commission spokeswoman said the German politician was still working towards that deadline.
A political row in Slovenia had already threatened to force Dr von der Leyen to delay her announcement, before France changed its nominee.
Slovenia had originally put forward Tomaz Vesel, the former president of its court of auditors, as its next commissioner. However, Mr Vesel pulled out following a reported clash with Dr von der Leyen. The government picked Marta Kos, a former diplomat and liberal politician, as its new nominee at the start of last week.
A parliamentary committee chaired by a politician from the opposition has delayed confirming the nomination of Ms Kos. The right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) had accused the government of bowing to pressure from Dr von der Leyen to replace Mr Vesel with a woman. It is unclear whether Dr von der Leyen will push ahead with an announcement of the commissioner jobs without Slovenia’s nominee being signed off by its parliamentary committee.
The commissioners must be approved by MEPs in European Parliament hearings expected to take place in the coming weeks, with Dr von der Leyen pushing for her new commission to be in place by the start of November.
