European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has accepted the resignation of French Commissioner Thierry Breton, thanking him for his work and without commenting on the criticisms made by him.
According to the spokesperson for the EU executive, Arianna Podesta, on Monday, Von der Leyen accepted Breton’s resignation, thanking him for his work.
The spokesperson stressed, at the Commission’s usual daily press conference, that there would be no comment on allegations made in the letter released this Monday, in which the French liberal presents his resignation as commissioner, withdrawing himself from the list of nominations for the next college.
“The president is focused on the future,” Podesta said.
Breton, who held the Internal Market portfolio in the Von der Leyen Commission, resigned claiming, in a letter sent to the president and published on his X social media account, that he had been rejected by the leader of the executive, who, in the midst of negotiations for the composition of the new commission, asked the French President, Emmanuel Macron, to propose another name.
Faced with Breton’s resignation, Paris moved forward with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné.
In a letter sent this Monday to Ursula von der Leyen and published on the social network X (formerly Twitter), Thierry Breton states that, despite having once again been France’s choice for the college of commissioners in the new mandate of the community executive, “a few days ago, in the final stretch of negotiations”, the official asked the country to “withdraw (her) name”.
According to Breton, Von der Leyen did so “for personal reasons that she never discussed directly” with him, offering “as a political counterpart an allegedly more influential portfolio for France in the future college”.
The proposals for the College of Commissioners are scheduled to be announced on Tuesday in Strasbourg, on the sidelines of the plenary session of the European Parliament, with the Government having put forward the name of Maria Luís Albuquerque, former Finance Minister under Pedro Passos Coelho.
Source: www.cmjornal.pt
