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French President Emmanuel Macron has nominated his outgoing overseas minister because the nation’s subsequent EU commissioner, changing Thierry Breton hours after he resigned from the bloc’s govt.
Stéphane Séjourné’s shock nomination on Monday got here after Breton, in his resignation letter, criticised a deal between Macron and European Fee president Ursula von der Leyen for a extra highly effective place for France in return for swapping its candidate.
The change comes lower than 24 hours earlier than von der Leyen was set to announce her new slate of commissioners, and is the newest disruption to hit her already troubled technique of forming a crew for the following five-year cycle.
Séjourné is an in depth ally of Macron’s, having beforehand led the liberal Renew group within the European parliament.
The Élysée stated on Monday that Séjourné “meets all of the required standards” for the job, having served as Renew chief. “His dedication to Europe will enable him to totally carry the agenda for [European] sovereignty,” it stated, including that Macron had lengthy pushed for better European autonomy on points equivalent to industrial coverage and competitiveness.
Changing Breton with Séjourné was ready upfront throughout personal discussions between Macron and von der Leyen, in line with two folks briefed on the talks, as a way for France to get the very best function within the subsequent faculty of commissioners.
Breton’s resignation as one of many EU’s most distinguished and outspoken commissioners — he oversaw industrial coverage, defence and the bloc’s highly effective Digital Providers Act that regulates huge tech corporations — got here with a private jibe at von der Leyen for allegedly cooking up the deal with out his information.
“Just a few days in the past . . . you requested France to withdraw my title — for private causes that in no occasion you’ve mentioned immediately with me — and provided as a political trade-off an allegedly extra influential portfolio for France,” Breton stated in a letter to von der Leyen posted on X.
Von der Leyen’s actions have been “additional testimony to questionable governance” of the commission, Breton stated, including that he would resign instantly.
“What a beautiful mess,” stated one political ally of von der Leyen.
Breton supplied no particulars of the “private causes” cited for von der Leyen’s alleged intervention throughout what he described as “the very ultimate stretch of negotiations of the composition of the longer term faculty”, because the commissioners are collectively recognized within the EU.
It’s as much as von der Leyen to decide on which nations obtain which roles within the fee, and plenty of huge nations together with France and Italy have been lobbying her for a powerful portfolio overseeing industrial and financial insurance policies.
The resignation ends a tumultuous working relationship between von der Leyen and Breton, who typically clashed over insurance policies and rhetorical model. He had lengthy chafed at what he noticed as her heavy-handed strategy to managing the fee, and reluctance to delegate energy — or reward — to her commissioners.
Reacting to Breton’s letter to von der Leyen, an EU diplomat stated: “No love misplaced between these two.”
A fee spokesperson stated that von der Leyen “thanks [Breton] for his work through the mandate”. They declined to touch upon the contents of his resignation letter or personal discussions with Macron. A choice on who would take over Breton’s portfolio for the rest of the time period had not but been taken, the spokesperson stated.
Séjourné was put ahead with the blessing of France’s newly named Prime Minister Michel Barnier, a conservative and the EU’s former Brexit negotiator is who attempting to type a brand new authorities after inconclusive parliamentary elections this summer season in France, the Élysée stated.
Earlier than Breton’s resignation and alternative by Séjourné as nominee, a number of nations had switched their preliminary candidates for the fee in response to von der Leyen’s stress on them to appoint ladies in a bid to supply a gender-balanced faculty.
Von der Leyen was nonetheless planning to call her new crew of commissioners on Tuesday, in line with her spokesperson. All nominees, one from every of the EU’s 27 member states, have to be accepted by the European parliament earlier than they will take up their posts.
Slovenia is but to formally nominate its candidate for commissioner as a consequence of a home political spat.
