France names Stéphane Séjourné as candidate for EU commissioner. Macron asks for delegation to industry and technology

Brussels – Emmanuel Macron chose Stéphane Séjourné, minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs in the Attal government, to replace Thierry Breton as France’s European commissioner candidate, the Elysée Palace announced, thus closing in a few hours an incident after this morning‘s surprise resignation of the current European commissioner for the Internal Market. However, the affair is likely to have repercussions for the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, accused by Breton of pressuring the French government to withdraw his candidacy, proposing in exchange a more relevant portfolio for Paris.

“Since the French presidency of the Council of the EU in 2022 and his second speech at the Sorbonne in April 2024, the president of the Republic has always secured for France a key portfolio of European Commissioner, focused on the issues of industrial and technological sovereignty and European competitiveness. It has been the common thread of all the contacts we have had with the president of the European Commission since she was elected by the European Parliament,” Elysée Palace sources specified.

Recalled in January from the European Parliament, where he was president of Renew’s Liberal Group, to serve in Gabriel Attal’s government, for Paris, Séjourné “meets all the required criteria.” As European Commission spokeswoman Arianna Podesta noted, there were two main criteria for being part of von der Leyen’s new team: “skills and gender balance.” The EU leader had asked member countries to put two appointments on the table, one man and one woman, unless the candidate was a current commissioner. That was the case with Breton and France, so the second criterion did not apply. The skills remain, but Breton accused von der Leyen of taking him out “for personal reasons” and abusing the prerogative of distributing appointments offering “as a political trade-off a supposedly more influential portfolio for France in the future College.”

Macron is calling for a maxi-delegation for France on industrial and technology sovereignty and the competitiveness of the euro, dossiers where it is difficult to imagine that Séjourné could be more competent than Breton, someone who has held top positions in several industrial groups, taught at Harvard, and, above all, spent the last five years in von der Leyen’s cabinet helping pass significant legislation on services and the digital market and artificial intelligence.

For now, the European Commission chose not to respond to Breton’s heavy remarks: the appointment of commissioners “is a process based on confidentiality,” Arianna Podesta repeated several times, glossing over questions from the international press in Brussels. “What I can say is that the president takes note and accepts the resignation of Thierry Breton and thanks him for his work as European commissioner throughout his mandate,” the EU executive spokeswoman added.

Macron also thanked Breton, stressing his “decisive” contribution “to advancing a policy of European sovereignty in the area of digital technology, support for Europe’s defense technological and industrial base, and the holding of the EU’s single market during the Covid crisis.” Séjourné’s nomination does not yet complete von der Leyen’s puzzle ahead of tomorrow’s (Sept. 17) meeting at the European Parliament, where the EU leader is due to present the names of 26 commissioners and their respective mandates to European Parliament group leaders. The case concerning the withdrawal of the nomination of Tomaž Vesel in favor of Marta Kos in Slovenia has not yet closed — due to pressure from von der Leyen.