Macron’s Anguish Unveiled: French Commissioner’s Explosive Critique Takes Center Stage in EU Affairs

French Commissioner’s social media swipes at your boss are never a good idea, as European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton is discovering — especially when your boss is European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Macron’s Anguish Unveiled: French Commissioner’s breton is in hot water — with fellow Frenchman Emmanuel Macron included — after questioning publicly last week at the Bucharest congress of their European Parliament group, the European People’s Party, the lackluster support that von der Leyen got from the assembly for her bid for a second term at the head of the EU executive arm.
French Commissioner’s the EPP itself does not seem to believe in its own candidate,” Breton posted on social media.

French Commissioner’s

French Commissioner’s one French official, who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal dynamics, told POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook Breton has “made a real mistake” — a “lack of political sense” that has left Macron “extremely angry.”Breton, a Macron supporter, has made “a lot of unhappy people” within the president’s centrist Renaissance party, one of the two senior party officials said, with the second saying the commissioner’s comments were “giving ammo to the EPP. The Brussels administration is now upset, too. On Monday, an email from European Commission Secretary-General Ilze Juhansone’s office was circulated reminding commissioners not to “undermine the very institution that we are part of.
French Commissioner’s may I remind us all that … members of the Commission must behave with integrity and discretion … and that they shall not act or express themselves, through whatever medium, in a manner which adversely affects the public perception of their independence,” read the email, which was obtained by POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook.
Macron’s Anguish Unveiled: French Commissioner’s the communication included a reminder that commissioners “shall refrain from any action incompatible with their duties” under the EU governing rules and a reminder that a commissioner may be removed from office “or deprived of his right to a pension” if they don’t follow the rules. During a fiery debate with MEPs, Breton lambasted the Reuters report as inaccurate and handed a letter from its CEO to all the other commissioners. The article has been fact-checked and curated,” said POLITICO Europe’s technology correspondent Mark Scott, tweeting a picture of the letter alongside the headline in the article that read “EU commissioner Breton dismisses concerns over EU values being ‘torn up. A Commission spokesman reiterated that Breton had dismissed the report when asked for an example of his previous denial. “Breton’s words are no different from those we used to defend the article in the first place,” said a third Commission official from the same political grouping as Breton, “but another example of attacks on a media that no one’s particularly fond of anyway. The Commission did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment. One EU official, who like others quoted was granted anonymity to speak candidly, argued that the guidelines are “seen as a means of silencing any criticism” of von der Leyen.“Breton’s trying to attract attention and notoriety, it’s clear he wants to stay on as commissioner,” said another EU official. The French official argued Breton’s behavior “weakens von der Leyen, while the current Commission remains in place at least until December, and the geopolitical situation does not allow for any unnecessary division. It’s a gift to Les Républicains and the [far-right party] RN, who never stop bashing her.

Macron’s Anguish Unveiled: French Commissioner’s von der Leyen became head of the European Commission in 2019, largely thanks to the support of Macron. However, this circumstance turned her into an object of criticism for the French conservatives and far right. For example, even the major rightwing party, Les Républicains, stated they were “breaking” with von der Leyen. The election of such a representative was “symbolic of the Union’s slide towards technocracy,” Les Républicains president Eric Ciotti said in a letter to Manfred Weber, the EPP’s boss in the Parliament .