It’s a bit as if Galatea had betrayed Pygmalion. Or at least had freed herself from it. Between Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron, the balance of power has been singularly rebalanced. The surprise and thunderous resignation of Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market, the day before the announcement of the future team that will reign over the Berlaymont citadel in Brussels for the next five years, speaks volumes about France’s loss of influence on the European scene. And Emmanuel Macron is largely responsible for it. This last-minute blunder is one of the very many aftershocks of the earthquake of the dissolution of June 9. In fact, in Europe too, Emmanuel Macron is no longer the master of the clocks. The time when under the woodwork of the Sorbonne, the young French president discoursed on the future of Europe and was listened to from Lisbon to Tallinn is over.
You are strong at the European Council when you are strong at home. In 2019, Emmanuel Macron was kingmaker: he was the one who pulled Ursula von der Leyen’s name out of a hat as President of the Commission, not defending Michel Barnier’s candidacy in the process. And in the process, he did a great service to Angela Merkel, who did not know how to get rid of her Minister of Defense, who was very unpopular in the Bundeswehr. In the process, France obtained a portfolio with extremely broad contours.
In 2019, Ursula von der Leyen had everything to prove. Five years later, she was a powerful woman who imposed her views on the weakened French president. Yes, for a high-sounding title of vice-president granted to France, but not for Thierry Breton, with whom she had a detestable relationship. Of course, relations between the President of the Commission and the future French Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné, responsible for the recovery of European industry, will be smoother. But the title does not make influence. During the previous term, Margrethe Vestager, despite her halo of fight against Gafa, had certainly been propelled to vice-president of the Commission, but she had been quickly eclipsed by Breton in particular. Today, Stéphane Séjourné, a novice on industrial issues, will also have to deal with the new Commissioner for Defense and Space, Andrius Kubilius, twice Prime Minister of Lithuania and credited with the country’s economic recovery. In Brussels, France risks relegation or isolation.