European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton (R) who quit Monday with EC President Ursula von der Leyen, a relationship said to have been tense for most of the five years they worked together. File Photo by Olivier Hoslet/EPA-EFE
Sept. 16 (UPI) — The European Union’s top regulator of the bloc’s 27-country internal market, France’s Thierry Breton, quit Monday in a row with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen over his re-appointment to a five-year second term.
Breton alleged in a post on X that von der Leyen had for personal reasons gone behind his back to French President Emmanuel Macron in the final stages of the process of appointing a new college of commissioners asking him to nominate an alternative candidate in exchange for a seat with more power.
“You asked France to withdraw my name — for personal reasons that in no instance you have discussed directly with me — and offered as a political trade-off, an allegedly more influential portfolio for France in the future College,” wrote Breton.
“Over the past five years, I have relentlessly striven to uphold and advance the common European good, above national and party interests. However, in the light of these latest developments — further testimony to questionable governance — I have to conclude that I can no longer exercise my duties in the College.”
The EC refused to comment on his allegations regarding the way it was being run or confirm or deny von der Leyen had recently lobbied Paris to replace Breton with a new nominee, saying “trust and confidentiality” were the basis of all her dealings with EU leaders.
“The president takes note and accepts Thierry Breton’s resignation and thanks him for his work,” a spokesperson said.
His resignation, which was with immediate effect, threw a wrench into the already behind-schedule of von der Leyen’s next commission which she was set to name after meetings with senior MEPs on Tuesday.
The tricky task of appointing a new cabinet of commissioners, a politically sensitive balancing act that has to weigh the competing imperatives of party politics, geography and gender, has already landed von der Leyen in hot water in Slovenia over the appointment of Marta Kos.
Von der Leyen is alleged to have put pressure on the government in Ljubljana to replace its chosen male candidate with Kos in an effort to get more women onto the commission.
The commission spokesperson suggested the departure of the commission’s point man on everything from COVID-19 vaccines and boosting military-industrial production to help Ukraine, to taking on the market dominance of big U.S. tech giants, may force von der Leyen to delay naming her new commission beyond Tuesday.
“Twenty-four hours in politics is a long time,” the spokesperson said.
The commission is a 27-strong cabinet of officials from all EU member states, with each assigned a specific area of responsibility for enforcing EU law across the bloc ranging from environment and climate, industrial and economic policy, foreign affairs, migration, farming and fishing. They also represent the bloc internationally.
Possibly von der Leyen’s most outspoken commissioner, Breton championed limiting the Internet with legislation and regulation of companies such as X and Meta.
In December, the commission launched an investigation into X accusing the company of not being transparent enough while failing to counter illicit content and disinformation in the bloc.
The probe, which also targeted X’s so-called verified “blue check” accounts, came as the newly enacted Digital Services Act sought to crack down on a massive surge in online misinformation in the EU especially amid the Israel-Hamas war.
In July, the commission told X that its verified accounts as well as its poor transparency in advertising and lack of access to data for research ran afoul of the bloc’s rules for large online platforms.
It ruled X’s “blue checkmark” verified accounts were deceptive to users as anyone can pay a fee to subscribe and obtain the verified status.
Macron and Prime Minister Michel Barnier nominated France’s outgoing foreign minister Stephane Sejourne to replace Breton with the Elysee Palace saying in a statement that France hoped to get a key portfolio related to “industrial and technological sovereignty” and “European competitiveness.”
