Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market, also in charge of technology and defense, announced his resignation from the European Commission on Monday, September 16, while not missing the opportunity to send one last jab at Ursula von der Leyen.
Thierry Breton had been a European Commissioner for five years within the College of President Ursula von der Leyen. He had been reappointed to this position by French President Emmanuel Macron this summer.
“You asked France to withdraw my name — for personal reasons that you never discussed directly with me — and offered, as a political compromise, a supposedly more influential portfolio for France in the future college,” wrote Thierry Breton in a letter addressed to Ursula von der Leyen and published on X.
Ursula von der Leyen had asked member states to prioritize the appointment of women to achieve parity within the College of Commissioners.
But Thierry Breton, in his resignation letter, accuses her of proposing to exchange names for more attractive portfolios.
It is impossible to know if his call for a name change is based on issues of parity or differences of opinion. And it remains unclear whether France will appoint a woman to replace Thierry Breton.
The Vice-President of the Greens group in the European Parliament, Marie Toussaint, has called on X for President Emmanuel Macron to appoint a woman.
Thierry Breton has often opposed Ursula von der Leyen over the past few months. In March, he openly criticized her candidacy as the lead candidate for the European People’s Party (EPP) in the campaign for the European elections.
With the support of other Commissioners, he asked her in April to reconsider her decision to appoint Markus Pieper as envoy for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), suggesting that her choice of a colleague affiliated with the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU/EPP) was a political maneuver.
Thierry Breton then urged Elon Musk, owner of X, to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) before Musk’s live interview with U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump on August 12.
The Commission subsequently confirmed that this decision had been made without prior consultation of the College of Commissioners, and a source linked to Ursula von der Leyen’s cabinet told Euractiv that she “had never been this angry” for undermining the application of the DSA. Civil society organizations had also strongly criticized Thierry Breton.
Ursula von der Leyen’s request for a name change, which Thierry Breton suspects is a political strategy, is “yet another testimony of dubious governance,” he writes in his resignation letter.
Alongside his letter, he also published a framework with a blank canvas titled “my official portrait for the next mandate of the European Commission.”
It is still unclear whether Thierry Breton will join the new French government, which is expected to be announced this week.