France’s Thierry Breton announced on Monday he was quitting the European Commission with immediate effect, claiming Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen had asked Paris to withdraw his candidacy for the incoming executive.
“In the very final stretch of negotiations on the composition of the future College, you asked France to withdraw my name,” the bloc’s internal market commissioner wrote in a letter to von der Leyen, posted on X. “I am therefore resigning from my position as European Commissioner, effective immediately.”
French President Emmanuel Macron had put forward Breton’s name for France’s spot on the Commission, and his reappointment to a major roleâreflecting the country’s weight within the 27-nation EUâhad been taken as a given.
The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Breton, whose strained relationship with his EU boss was no secret during her first five-year mandate, said the request was made “for personal reasons that in no instance you have discussed directly with me.”
He said von der Leyen had “offered, as a political trade-off, an allegedly more influential portfolio for France in the future College.”
“In light of these latest developmentsâfurther testimony to questionable governanceâI have to conclude that I can no longer exercise my duties in the College,” he wrote. “I am therefore resigning from my position as European Commissioner, effective immediately.”
It is worth recalling Breton’s “smug authoritarianism” regarding freedom of speech. Head of policy at MCC Brussels, wrote:
[Breton’s] chief contribution to his role as Commissioner for the Internal Marketâaside from overseeing an unprecedented decline in European competitivenessâhas been a barrage of laws and regulations, like the Digital Services Act, aimed at controlling what can and cannot be said online.
Yet, with his latest sanctimonious proclamation issued to Elon Musk, he has plumbed new depths of smug absolutism. The letterâironically posted on X but, unlike most of Bretonâs other posts, thankfully missing the accompanying photo of Bretonâs faceâattempted to pre-empt a planned livestream between Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
Liberation‘s longtime EU correspondent Jean Quatremer wrote on X, “Von der Leyen is now out of control and that is why Macron wanted to replace her.”
@vonderleyen settles her accounts. The President of the Commission asked France to present another candidate to replace Thierry Breton, the outgoing Commissioner, who slammed the door. The Frenchman has repeatedly and publicly criticized the dictatorial governance of the German, which is to say that the two cordially detest each other (in fact, von der Leyen doesn’t get along with anyone). In 40 years, I have never seen such a crisis with an outgoing Commissioner, especially a Commissioner from a large country who was virtually number 2 in the European executive. As feared, von der Leyen is now out of control and that is why Emmanuel Macron would have liked to replace her. But her haphazard dissolution prevented her from doing so. She is sending a clear message: she only wants “yes men.” A side effect of this crisis: the new Commission will not be known this week and it will take up its duties with great delay…
