MNI: Further Delays To New European Commission As Breton Quits

MNI (BRUSSELS) - Ursula von der Leyen is likely to push back the announcement of top officials in her new European Commission for a second time after France’s nominee stepped down in acrimonious circumstances, with sources telling MNI on Monday she could limit herself to revealing organisational changes without attaching names to jobs when she speaks on Tuesday.

Commission President Von der Leyen had been expected to announce her proposed appointees to leaders of political groups in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday morning. Defence, Innovation and Competitiveness are among new Commission roles likely to be revealed as well as five vice presidencies to oversee industrial policy, economy, climate, institutional relations and enlargement. 

EU sources had already feared that naming the new Commission would take until the start of next year. Von der Leyen has already postponed her announcement once, with officials pointing to disagreements in the European Parliament over the proposed appointment of Italy's Raffaelle Fitto to an important vice presidency for economy and for managing NexGenerationEU post-Covid recovery programmes. (See MNI: Fight Over Jobs Delays Naming Of EU Commissioners-Sources)

The withdrawal of French Commission nominee Thierry Breton threatens further delays as the fragile coalition government in Paris searches for new candidates.

"QUESTIONABLE GOVERNANCE"

Breton said on social media site X on Monday that he was withdrawing after Von der Leyen requested his replacement “for personal reasons” and pointed to what he called “questionable governance” at the Commission. Breton had angered the Commission president in August by writing to billionaire Elon Musk without her approval to threaten him with punishment if content on X put European citizens at risk.

The disputatious nature of Breton's withdrawal is likely to exacerbate existing tensions between political groups in the European Parliament and raise questions about Von der Leyen's handling of the appointments to the next Commission.  

The delayed approval of Slovenia's nominee to the Commission Marta Kos was already causing headaches, with the Commission said to be looking at "legal loopholes" to proceed regardless. Precedents include the installation of a new Commission in 2019 despite the refusal of then-member UK to appoint its commissioner.

Malta's nominee Glenn Micallef and Hungary's Oliver Varhelyi are among those most vulnerable to rejection by the European Parliament as it seeks to even up the gender balance of the new Commission, sources said.

Malta's Micallef is considered to be without heavyweight political experience while Varhelyi's lack of support for Ukraine and his failure to more vigorously tackle rule-of-law failures in candidate states have damaged his reputation among many MEPs.