Why this change of casting?

A look back at Monday’s dramatic turn of events: the last-minute replacement of Thierry Breton by Stéphane Séjourné, a close friend of Emmanuel Macron, as France’s candidate for the European Commission. What happened?

At the end of July, Emmanuel Macron officially proposed to Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, to reappoint Thierry Breton as French Commissioner for the next five years. With hindsight, a Macronist MEP says: “It was a bit risky to re-present Breton’s candidacy, whose execrable relations with von der Leyen are public knowledge.”. An example, with this message posted on X by Thierry Breton in March, when Ursula von der Leyen was designated candidate of the European right – the European People’s Party – to lead the commission. She did not get the votes and Thierry Breton wrote: “Von der Leyen is outvoted by her own party, the right itself does not seem to believe in its candidate”.

This did not prevent Emmanuel Macron from choosing Thierry Breton, while pleading to strengthen the portfolio of the French commissioner. There were discussions all summer between Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen. On Monday, September 16, in his resignation letter, Thierry Breton targets her: “A few days ago, you asked France to remove my name”. According to a person familiar with the negotiations, the Commission President agreed that Paris should have an executive vice-presidency, and therefore more weight, on paper, provided that it was not Thierry Breton. Emmanuel Macron preferred the portfolio to his candidate.

The head of state has therefore finally chosen Stéphane Séjourné, the resigning Minister of Foreign Affairs. He needed a trustworthy person who would suit Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen. Stéphane Séjourné is very close to him and has good relations with her. When he was head of the centrist Renew group in the European Parliament, he had brought the President of the Commission to the Macronist party’s return to school last autumn in Bordeaux to launch the European campaign. Stéphane Séjourné still has to convince the MEPs because all commissioners are interviewed before being approved or not. It is therefore only once he is officially a commissioner that he will resign from his position as a member of the National Assembly, which will lead to a by-election in Hauts-de-Seine.

“It was done in agreement with the Prime Minister”assures the Élysée. Even if it is “a presidential decision”insists Matignon, Michel Barnier was “associated with the discussion fairly quickly after his appointment”. The Prime Minister does not have the same proximity with the former and future commissioner. With Stéphane Séjourné, “they know each other”, while with Thierry Breton “they get along very well”. This change of casting comes in any case at a particular moment. The Prime Minister is in the process of forming his government. “It suits himjokes a Macronist, because Séjourné’s departure frees up an important position: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!”