Thierry Breton Resigns, Forced Out by the European Commission President
Thierry Breton, in a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission:
On 24 July, you wrote to Member States asking them to nominate
candidates for the 2024-2029 College of Commissioner, specifying
that Member States that intend to suggest the incumbent Member of
the Commission were not required to suggest two candidates. On 25
July, President Emmanuel Macron designated me as France’s official
candidate for a second mandate in the College of Commissioners — as he had already publicly announced on the margins of the
European Council on 28 June. 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 — for personal reasons that
in no instance you have discussed directly with me — and 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.
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.
I am therefore resigning from my position as European
Commissioner, effective immediately.
Translation from bureaucratese to English: “Faced with being fired for being a jackass or resigning, I resign.”
★
Thierry Breton, in a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission:
On 24 July, you wrote to Member States asking them to nominate
candidates for the 2024-2029 College of Commissioner, specifying
that Member States that intend to suggest the incumbent Member of
the Commission were not required to suggest two candidates. On 25
July, President Emmanuel Macron designated me as France’s official
candidate for a second mandate in the College of Commissioners — as he had already publicly announced on the margins of the
European Council on 28 June. 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 — for personal reasons that
in no instance you have discussed directly with me — and 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.
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.
I am therefore resigning from my position as European
Commissioner, effective immediately.
Translation from bureaucratese to English: “Faced with being fired for being a jackass or resigning, I resign.”