Thierry Breton Resigns, Forced Out by the European Commission President

Thierry Breton, in a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission:

On 24 July, you wrote to Member States asking them to nominate candidates for the 2024-2029 College of Commissioner, specifying that Member States that intend to suggest the incumbent Member of the Commission were not required to suggest two candidates. On 25 July, President Emmanuel Macron designated me as France’s official candidate for a second mandate in the College of Commissioners — as he had already publicly announced on the margins of the European Council on 28 June. A few days ago, in the very final stretch of negotiations on the composition of the future College, 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. You will now be proposed a different candidate.

Over the past five years, I have relentlessly striven to uphold and advance the common European good, above national and party interests. It has been an honour.

However, in 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.

I am therefore resigning from my position as European Commissioner, effective immediately.

Translation from bureaucratese to English: “Faced with being fired for being a jackass or resigning, I resign.”

I’m starting to get the feeling that the EC’s regulatory arm is not, in fact, politically popular in the EU.

★ Monday, 16 September 2024