Emmanuel Macron had to pull France’s candidate for the European Commission at the very last moment. Ursula von der Leyen ended up with another man on her team.
They left it late and the execution was messy. But the backroom deal, cooked up over months between France’s leader and the commission president, could leave both feeling satisfied.
Twenty-four hours before von der Leyen was scheduled to announce her new slate of commissioners, Paris replaced its nominee with outgoing foreign minister — and close Macron ally — Stéphane Séjourné.
The unexpected switch rids von der Leyen of Thierry Breton, her most prominent internal critic, in exchange for granting Macron more powerful levers inside the EU executive, according to people briefed on the private discussions between them. But it also leaves her short of her goal of achieving a gender-balanced cabinet.
The talks about a different French commissioner began shortly after the European parliament elections in June and continued even as Macron publicly backed Breton for a second term in Brussels, the people said. Blindsided by the sudden lack of support from the Elysée, the internal market commissioner had no option but to step down on Monday, they said.
He did not depart quietly, however, denouncing the “political trade-off” struck behind his back in a seething resignation letter that lashed out at von der Leyen’s management style.
“[Breton] didn’t see it coming, so it has hit him harder,” said one of the people. “As they say: ‘power is borrowed’.”
Séjourné, the former leader of the liberal group in the European parliament and one of the few French politicians who is both a Brussels insider and an Elysée loyalist, is expected to be granted a significant portfolio with oversight over parts of the EU’s industrial policy, the people said. The 39-year-old lawyer is also seen by von der Leyen as an asset in building relations with the fragmented EU assembly.
The appointment also comes as Macron is seeking to repair his standing at a European level after triggering a snap election in the national parliament that hobbled his leadership at home.
In a statement on Monday, the Elysée said the move was in tune with the president’s push for European sovereignty on issues such as industry, technology and competitiveness.
But some analysts depicted it as a von der Leyen ambush that brings some setbacks too — including having to form new teams on issues where Breton had been a vocal and effective advocate for France.
“It’s a bit of a waste,” said Elvire Fabry, a senior research fellow from the Jacques Delors Institute. “Breton is someone who has been willing to be confrontational on many issues including overseas . . . he’s been an asset for the outgoing commission even if we know relations with von der Leyen have not been easy.”
Macron had “made the most of the change to ensure he would have an ally in place, someone who will be loyal rather than taking into account gender balance”, she said, in reference to von der Leyen’s request that governments send female commissioner candidates. Replacing Breton with another man “is a little dig at von der Leyen too and doesn’t make her job simpler”, Fabry added.
During his term in the EU parliament, Séjourné headed the Renew group, keeping together a fractious coalition of economic liberals and more dirigiste parties from France.
As the third-biggest party, it held the balance of power between left and right and its compromise positions often won the day. Von der Leyen appreciated his support in getting critical environmental proposals through the house, an EU diplomat said.
“He can build the necessary trust in all three EU institutions.”
A former colleague agreed. “He has very good relations with everyone. And he is a good negotiator and a hard worker. It’s good news for France.”
But a member of von der Leyen’s centre-right European People’s party said Séjourné would struggle to influence the new parliament, which has moved rightward, relegating Renew to fifth place. The votes of the fourth-largest group led by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the European Conservatives and Reformists, will be needed to pass some pieces of legislation.
“He never impressed in plenary debates and mostly lectured the right on fascism. Breton is much more pragmatic than Séjourné. Reaching out to the ECR will be difficult for him,” the person said.
A former Socialist who has backed Macron since the former French economy minister ran for president in 2017, Séjourné is one of the few remaining loyalists and Elysée emissaries set to play a consequent role after Macron’s election debacle this summer at home.
Macron’s centrists ended up well short of a majority in the French parliament, and the election gamble the president sprang on many of his allies, including then-prime minister Gabriel Attal, further soured relations with some of his early champions.
In the most recent French cabinet, Séjourné had a stint of barely nine months as foreign minister.
Attal, Séjourné’s former partner, was replaced last week by the conservative Michel Barnier, who will now pick a government that will be more independent of Macron than in the past — another incentive for the French president to bolster his influence where he can.
“Macron is sending his clone to the Commission,” Manon Aubry, a French far-left MEP, said on X. The fractious mood in France extended to the far right, with party officials criticising what they painted as jobs for friends of Macron’s.
Pascale Joannin, managing director of the Robert Schuman think-tank, said Sejourné would have to prove his clout and that it was not clear he had the “same charisma” as Breton.
Breton was appointed by Macron in 2019 as a second choice after the European parliament rejected his initial candidate, Sylvie Goulard.
The 69-year-old former head of French IT group Atos had a tempestuous relationship with von der Leyen, regularly irking his boss with public remarks that strayed from his official brief and private sniping about her leadership style.
Breton won plaudits for his work in boosting European vaccine production amid the Covid-19 pandemic and for raising the alarm about EU’s woeful level of ammunition production in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
But he infuriated senior commission officials for his unsanctioned, unilateral moves to spar with technology tycoons such as Elon Musk over social media policies, and some of his provocations were viewed dimly by the Elysée too.
In March he questioned von der Leyen’s legitimacy to serve a second term based on the level of support she had garnered in an internal party vote. Last year he discussed replacing von der Leyen with other senior officials from other EU capitals.
Reinhard Butikofer, a former German Green MEP, said Breton had over-reached. “His ego has no limits. He’s the loser of the week.”
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