The bad relations between Thierry Breton and his president [of the Commission] were widely known. The commissioner also underlined in his farewell letter the “recent developments” that pointed to “yet another dubious display of governance.” “There has always been plenty of conflict and friction between the two of them. In the European bubble, among pro-Ursula circles, several people say the compromise was reached as early as 8am that morning,” relates Julien Hoez, a Brussels-based consultant and editor-in-chief of the site The French Dispatch. “It was quite the rivalry between them.”
The Élysée ultimately did not commit to this path, even though female candidates were not lacking. Elvire Fabry cites, for example, the profiles of Muriel Lacoue-Labarthe (from the Treasury’s general directorate) or Laurence Boone, secretary of state for Europe in the Élisabeth Borne government. The name of the former prime minister was also circulating among those mentioned, according to Julien Hoez.
Some French parliamentarians, for their part, were annoyed by “Plan B,” seeing it as a missed opportunity to build a more balanced parity. More broadly, many opposition members expressed their outrage at the choice of Stéphane Séjourné, one of the head of state’s close allies.
From a purely strategic standpoint, seen from Brussels, Thierry Breton’s replacement by Stéphane Séjourné invites different readings. “It wasn’t really about the French side accepting this decision by Ursula von der Leyen in too accommodating a way. The president of the Republic made sure to prioritise the loyalty of the person he was nominating as European Commissioner over the balance of expertise within the College,” considers Elvire Fabry.
Conversely, for Francisco Roa Bastos, France’s influence within the future Commission is weakening mechanically. “Compared to an outgoing commissioner, the political weight, the capacity to get European administrations to work together, that takes time. Thierry Breton had already acquired that capacity.”
“Stéphane Séjourné left a good memory at the European Parliament, people liked working with him,” estimates consultant Julien Hoez (who works at the Renaissance committee in Belgium). One caveat, though: “His English isn’t great,” he acknowledges.
At the Senate, the chair of the European Affairs Committee, Jean-François Rapin (LR), already misses the outgoing commissioner. “It was one of the influential ones, who had the ability to give a certain visibility to France. I’m asking the future commissioner to show that France still measures up to the challenges, even if he speaks on behalf of the European Union and not on behalf of France,” hopes the senator from Pas-de-Calais.