France’s European Commissioner Resigns And Slams Von Der Leyen For ‘Questionable Governance’
France’s European Commissioner Thierry Breton has resigned from his post and accused Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of going behind his back to change the country’s nominee.
French President Emanuel Macron nominated Breton for a second term but he pulled the plug and accused von der Leyen on asking France to withdraw his name.
“A few days ago, in the 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,” he wrote in a letter addressed to the EC president and published to X.
Breton alleged that the Commission President offered a more influential portfolio if the country ditched him as its nominee.
“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,” he said before ultimately resigning.
This comes amid von der Leyen’s appeals to member states to nominate female candidates in an attempt to form a gender-balanced College of Commissioners. So far, countries including Slovenia and Romania have withdrawn male candidates under pressure from von der Leyen, replacing them with women.
Von der Leyen reportedly had similar talks with Malta, attempting to convince the country to nominate a female instead of current nominee Glenn Micallef.
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