French Commissioner Thierry Breton resigns after being sidelined from future European Commission

The French Commissioner, Thierry Bretonwhich was initially proposed by Emmanuel Macron to pursue a second term in the Community Executive, he announced this Monday by surprise his immediate resignation. He does so after knowing that Von der Leyen maneuvered to remove him for “personal reasons”.

Both They expressed their disagreements in public during the final stretch of the previous legislature and Breton, who until then held the portfolio of Domestic market and industrynow accuses the German of “questionable governance”.

[Von der Leyen sopesa dar a Teresa Ribera la codiciada cartera de Competencia y alejarla de Transición]

“A few days ago, in the final stretch of negotiations on the composition of the future college, you asked France to withdraw my name, for personal reasons which at no time did he discuss directly with me,” Breton declared in a letter addressed to Von der Leyen that he himself made public on his Twitter account.

The Frenchman also reveals that in exchange for his replacement, the president offered Macron “as political compensation.” a supposedly more influential portfolio for France in the future school.”

“Over the past five years, I have worked tirelessly to defend and advance the common European interest, above national and partisan interests. It has been an honour. However, in light of recent events – which are further evidence of questionable governance – I must conclude that I can no longer fulfill my obligations at school,” writes Breton.

“For all this, I present my resignation from my position as European Commissioner, with immediate effect” concludes the letter, which is also addressed to Von der Leyen’s chief of staff and the secretary-general of the Commission. The letter also announces that Macron is considering presenting a new candidate. The Frenchman also posted a tweet with the image of a white box: “My official portrait for the next mandate of the European Commission” he wrote ironically.

In recent weeks, the president has kept up pressure on governments to Change your candidates to the Commission and send more women. Von der Leyen demanded that all countries propose two candidates: one woman and one man. But most member states ignored her request. The result is that until Monday, there were 10 women and 16 men, far from the parity desired by the German.

However, Von der Leyen’s maneuver to oust Breton It cannot be explained solely by the search for diversityHe himself points out in his letter that the commissioners who repeated a year at school were excluded from this demand for seeking parity.

The Frenchman stood out during Von der Leyen’s first term for his role in the coordination of vaccine factories in the EU to speed up the manufacture of Covid-19 injections. He also visited all the munitions factories EU to promote arms deliveries to Ukraine. Finally, it played a leading role in the development and implementation of the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act.

His disagreements with Von der Leyen, which are attributed a highly centralized style of government which barely leaves room for its commissioners, was revealed in the final stretch of the last legislature. “Despite her qualities, Ursula von der Leyen is left in the minority by her own party. The EPP itself does not seem to believe in its candidate.“, Breton wrote on his Twitter account on March 7 after the popular congress during which the German was re-elected head of the Commission.

Breton’s intervention was also decisive in cancelling a recent nomination decided by Von der Leyen: that of the German Christian Democrat. Markus Pieper as EU envoy for SMEs. Although the president’s spokesmen assured that all legal conditions were met, Breton was among the instigators of a revolt because he considered it a political appointment to favour an ally. Pieper ultimately resigned before taking office..