(Bloomberg) — President Emmanuel Macron proposed Stephane Sejourne, France’s outgoing foreign minister, to be the country’s new commissioner for the European Union following the abrupt resignation of Thierry Breton.
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“His commitment to Europe will enable him to fully support a sovereign agenda,” according to the French president’s office, commenting on the new appointment.
Breton, the EU’s influential internal market chief, stepped down Monday from the bloc’s executive arm, saying that France was asked to provide a different nominee for the next commission.
The surprise move complicates Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s task to begin the new five-year term, likely delaying the planned Nov. 1 start. It also underscores the difficult relationship between von der Leyen and Breton, who said in his resignation letter that her request was “further testimony to questionable governance.”
Breton said that von der Leyen asked France to withdraw his name as a nominee “for personal reasons that in no instance have you discussed directly with me,” and in return France would get a more influential role in the commission.
Macron Ally
Sejourne, 39, has been a close ally of Macron since he worked for him at the French finance ministry a decade ago. Sejourne played a key role in Macron’s first presidential election campaign in 2017, as a representative of the left wing branch of Macron’s then newly created party.
He was elected to the EU parliament in 2019, quickly becoming a key player in EU politics as Macron’s man in Brussels. Sejourne became the head of the Renew centrist group in the EU parliament in 2021, before taking over the helm of Macron’s Renaissance party in 2022.
Sejourne kept his local politics hat when he was appointed earlier this year to be France’s youngest-ever foreign minister in the modern republic.
In a written statement from his office, Macron expressed his thanks to Breton for making a “major contribution to advancing a European sovereignty policy in the fields of digital technology.”
A commission spokesperson said that von der Leyen thanks Breton for his work but declined to address any deliberations regarding his role, calling them confidential. The commission didn’t immediately say who would take over his duties at the commission.
Von der Leyen was expected to announce her new commission Tuesday in Strasbourg. She was already struggling to put forward a gender-balanced commission, a process that was causing delays.
That timeline was under pressure after the Slovenian opposition party led by populist Janez Jansa delayed the confirmation of its commission candidate.
Breton’s departure could also further complicate plans to boost EU competitiveness, as he was in charge of the portfolio covering the bloc’s industrial policy and was an advocate of joint borrowing for areas including defense, another of his policy areas.
Breton served as the bloc’s industry chief and also was the chief enforcer of the new Digital Services Act, which regulates content moderation on social-media platforms. As such, he often tangled with Elon Musk’s X and Meta Platforms Inc. Previously, he was CEO of French software maker Atos and France Telecom, France’s finance minister and a bestselling sci-fi writer.
Over his five years in charge of the commission’s internal market unit, the 69-year-old has overseen the roll-out of a string of landmark digital regulations, including the content moderation rulebook the DSA, the Artificial Intelligence Act, and the chips act.
–With assistance from Gian Volpicelli and Jorge Valero.
(Updates with Breton background from the third paragraph, commission statement in ninth.)
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