Thierry Breton: ‘I had to do it’

The former French European commissioner gives his first public comments since his surprise resignation last week.

Sep 23, 2024 - 05:00

Former European Commissioner Thierry Breton said on Sunday that no one had forced him to resign from the EU executive but that he’d felt he “had to do it.”

In his first public comments since unexpectedly quitting last week, Breton reiterated his criticism of the Commission’s “dubious governance.”

Breton, who served as commissioner for the internal market since 2019, shocked Brussels by abruptly stepping down last Monday and accusing Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of undermining him. He said von der Leyen had pushed French President Emmanuel Macron to pull Breton as France’s nominee for the new Commission in exchange for a beefier portfolio.

In an interview aired Sunday, Breton told France Inter he “considered that under these conditions [he no longer had his] place in this college” of EU commissioners.

“If I feel that I am not comfortable with this governance,” he explained, “I draw the consequences. And it was done.”

“It was me who resigned, because I felt I had to do it.”

Breton also doubled down on criticizing the Commission and its governance.

“This is the strength of our model — whether you are sent by Malta or France, you have the same weight,” he said. “We must ensure that this balance is maintained and that discussions are horizontal and not vertical.”

Macron nominated outgoing French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné as France’s new pick for the Commission shortly after Breton’s resignation.

Speaking of his successor, Breton said that he “respects” Macron’s choice. “My goal is for [Séjourné] to succeed, and he will succeed, I am convinced of it,” he added.

Breton also described French Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s new government, announced on Saturday, as “center-right” albeit “a little under the control of the far right and Marine Le Pen.”

But the former commissioner said Macron had been “right” to appoint Michel Barnier as prime minister rather than Lucie Castets, the left’s candidate for the job, because the coalition Barnier leads “is more solid.”