European Commissioner Breton from France steps down.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is about to reveal the makeup of the new EU Commission, but French representative Thierry Breton isn't pleased. He accused her of backing someone else for his position due to "personal reasons" that she never shared with him. As a result, Breton decided to call it quits and step down.
In a letter to von der Leyen, Breton wrote, "I am formally resigning from my position as EU Commissioner, effective immediately." He went on to say, "Just a few days ago, during the final stages of negotiations for the upcoming Commission, you asked France to withdraw my name from the running - for reasons that remain personal to you and were never disclosed to me." Breton claimed that Von der Leyen offered France a more prominent role within the upcoming Commission as a compromise.
Previously serving as the Internal Market Commissioner, responsible for digital and industry policy in Brussels, Breton pushed for stricter regulations for digital giants like Google, Apple, and Meta. In fact, French President Emmanuel Macron himself nominated him for a second term as EU Commissioner in July. However, Breton and von der Leyen's working relationship had been strained for quite some time.
Multiple EU countries defy von der Leyen's request
To make matters worse, over half of the 27 EU countries ignored von der Leyen's request to propose one male and one female candidate for each Commission position. Van der Leyen will officially announce the new Commission's composition on Tuesday in Strasbourg, and the appointed Commissioners will then face a grilling from the European Parliament.
In light of the discord, Breton's resignation marks the first high-profile departure from the new EU Commission before its official announcement. Despite the multiple resignations, Von der Leyen still needs to finalize the composition of the Commission, which is facing criticism for the lack of gender balance among the proposed candidates.
