Thierry Breton has announced his immediate resignation as European commissioner due to disagreements with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
France’s Thierry Breton on Monday stated the European Chief, Ursula von der Leyen had asked Paris to withdraw his candidacy for the next executive and requested another candidate to join her commission
Mr. Breton said “I am therefore resigning from my position as European commissioner, effective immediately,”
The official candidate put forward by Emmanuel Macron explained that von der Leyen, who is in the process of forming the new EU’s executive arm for a five-year term, had asked France to withdraw his name.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my colleagues in the College, Commission services, MEPs, Member States, and my team.
Together, we have worked tirelessly to advance an ambitious EU agenda.
It has been an honour & privilege to serve the common European interest🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/wQ4eeHUnYu
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) September 16, 2024
“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,” Breton, the bloc’s internal market commissioner, wrote in a letter to von der Leyen.
Breton is understood to have had a strained relationship with his EU boss, who oversees the 27-member College of Commissioners, during her first five-year mandate.
He said von der Leyen’s request to Paris was made “for personal reasons that in no instance you have discussed directly with me.”
Thierry said von der Leyen had “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,” he said.
“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,” Breton concluded.
