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September 16, 2024 - 4:30pm
Ursula von der Leyen’s second term as European Commission President is not even off the ground, yet the appointment of her new top team is already plagued by problems. Appointments to the EU’s College of Commissioners descended into chaos this morning, when Thierry Breton — one of the EU’s most recognisable and influential Commissioners during von der Leyen’s first term in office — resigned over her alleged meddling to prevent his reappointment. It doesn’t bode well for the coming five years.
In a resignation letter posted on X, Breton did not specify the nature of the pressure from von der Leyen on France, saying only that the Commission President was motivated by “personal reasons that in no instance you have directly discussed with me”. Paris has already announced the outgoing French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné as Breton’s replacement.
Breton clearly feels himself the victim of a plot. In truth, his rocky term as Internal Market Commissioner may have given von der Leyen sufficient reason to request an alternative nominee. His decision to go rogue in threatening Elon Musk over “hate speech” in relation to Donald Trump’s X interview was an embarrassing own goal which laid the EU open to accusations of election interference. In his resignation letter, Breton made no attempt to disguise the animosity between himself and his former boss, calling von der Leyen’s move against his reappointment “further testimony to questionable governance”.
The spat illustrates the tendency for personal rivalry and sordid jockeying for position among officials with no popular mandate to shape EU politics. Working together in the Commission does little to turn politicians from rival ideological groups into allies; Breton openly questioned von der Leyen’s right to a second term during her re-election campaign, saying her European People’s Party did not “seem to believe in its own candidate”.
This petty personal rivalry, however, masks more serious concerns about von der Leyen’s leadership style as she embarks on a second term in office. The German has already delayed presenting her proposed new Commissioners amid a gender-equality drive, which has seen member states pressured into swapping out male candidates for female ones. Breton’s claim that, in exchange for his removal, von der Leyen “offered, as a political trade-off, an allegedly more influential portfolio for France” follows reports of similarly shady meddling in other nominations.
Within von der Leyen’s commitment to achieving a “Union of Equality”, offering countries more attractive Commissioner portfolios in exchange for the nomination of female candidates has reportedly become standard practice. This approach has come back to bite von der Leyen. Demanding the replacement of Slovenia’s original male nominee plunged the country into turmoil and delayed the announcement of her new Commissioners, with the country’s opposition blocking the appointment process and accusing the government of acquiescing to the “slapping around of Slovenia”.
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SubscribeThe machinations of unelected political technocrats. It’s all to be expected. Good to see that Breton understands the value of X when it suits his personal interests.
“In a resignation letter posted on X…” I assume Breton and his team vetted the resignation letter to ensure it wouldn’t “cause serious harm to citizens of the EU”.
X = tierrY squared
I hope he has actually resigned… I’d hate the police having to do him for disseminating misinformation and fake news on social media in the event he had 2nd thoughts.
Female leaders. Well I guess there’s one in the positive column.
The world needs more Nicolas, Jacindas and Theresas.
The sooner the imperialist bureaucrats of the EU are all tossed out of power the better.
There is no shortage of equally bad people queuing up to replace them.
She’s fascinating. How on earth does she manage to continually fail upward?
Inspiration for Kamala. Or is it the other way round?
Pushing ‘gender equality’ i.e. 50/50-ish male/female ratio in high-level governmental positions.
Presumably because ‘it’s 2024’, or something.
Shït for brains.
The EU…equivalent to the Holy Roman Empire…not Holy, not Roman and not an Empire…but equally irrelevant.
Extraordinary that there are still people in Britain who think we should go back to being a satrapy of this crumbling empire.
Let’s not undervalue the EU. Crumbling, CORRUPT empire if you please.
Just more evidence, if any were needed, of what a thoroughly rotten institution the EU is.
“officials with no popular mandate” may be a problem but it is surely no bigger issue then having a fully unelected House of Lords still in place, even after Brexit. With members appointed based on the personal whims and dislikes of an outgoing PM.
But the House of Lords has no real power. The European Commission has great power.
Another discussion all together. Suppose House of Lords does not exist just for fun. At least it provided previous PM opportunity to appoint non elected minister ie David Cameron with real power I suppose.