French candidate for next European Commission Thierry Breton resigns

The French candidate for the next European Commission and current EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton resigned in a surprise move on Monday by posting a letter on X.

Breton claimed in his letter that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen asked France to nominate another person in exchange for "an allegedly more influential portfolio for France" in the commission.

Breton, who is the incumbent French commissioner, said this "political trade-off" with France was made "for personal reasons that in no instance you have discussed directly with me."

The French candidate, who publicly criticized von der Leyen's leadership during the recent European Parliament elections, said this was "further testimony to questionable governance" in the commission.

The resignation comes as the commission president is preparing to unveil her new leadership team to the European Parliament on Tuesday.

The process has already been delayed as von der Leyen wrangles with EU countries over policy portfolios, trying to balance geographic and political factors.

Complicating matters further is von der Leyen's request for EU member states to nominate a man and a woman for the commission roles in pursuit of gender parity among her European Commissioners.

The commission president made exceptions to this request for EU countries that wished to nominate their sitting European Commissioner for another term.

However, most EU member states defied von der Leyen's request and nominated only one candidate, the majority of them male.

There is no legal requirement in EU treaties to nominate a male and female.