The man appointed by Ursula von der Leyen as France’s European Commission vice-president is an arch-federalist who made scathing remarks about Brexit in the aftermath of the 2016 referendum, a Brussels insider has said.
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne, a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron was handed the bloc’s industrial portfolio, after French heavyweight Thierry Breton yesterday resigned and openly criticised EU chief Ms von der Leyen for what he called her “questionable governance”.
It left France with a strong voice in the Commission, and many saw Mr Breton’s shock resignation more as a removal by von der Leyen of one of her most open internal critics after exerting pressure on French authorities.
Mr Sejourne, the leader of the Renew group in the European Parliament, was appointed by Mr Macron as his foreign policy chief in January, apparently paving the way for his latest appointment.
At the time, one Brussels source said: “He insisted on having ‘Europe and foreign affairs minister’ as his job title because forging Europe as a powerhouse will be one of his priorities.”
Three years ago, amid a bitter dispute over the rights of French fishermen to operate in the waters surrounding Jersey Mr Sejourne suggested Brexit was a “lose-lose for everyone” – and took a swipe at Boris Johnson.
The bitter row was the result of a decision by the Jersey government to reject 75 French applications for fishing licences, which in turn prompted French boats to threaten to blockade the island, with then-Prime Minister Mr Johnson dispatching two Royal Navy vessels to the Crown Dependency in response.
Mr Sejourne, who is a civil union with Gabriel Attal, himself recently replaced as French PM by Michel Barnier, subsequently said: “You should never trust Boris Johnson, that’s the lesson I learned.”
Speaking to Express.co.uk about the 39-year-old’s new job, Pieter Cleppe, editor of Brusselsreport.eu, said: “He is a promoter of ever more transfers of power and money to Brussels.
“Despite his membership of the ‘liberal’ Renew faction, he is anything but in favour of free market economics.
“He wants Brussels to be able to tax citizens directly and favours climate tariffs.”
Ms von der Leyen put women in many of the top roles on her new team for her next five-year tenure at the head of the bloc on Tuesday, despite the reluctance of many EU member states to give in to her demand for gender parity.
Ms Von der Leyen put only two men in her top echelon with four women as vice presidents, including Kaja Kallas as foreign policy chief. Kallas was already agreed on by government leaders.
On Tuesday the former German defence minister added Spanish Socialist Teresa Ribera to lead the green transition, along with Ribera also becoming the competition czar. Finland’s Henna Virkkunen was her pick for rule of law and digital leader, and Roxana Minzatu of Romania for social affairs leader.
Speaking at a conference this morning, Ms von der Leyen said EU nations only proposed 22 percent female candidates before she started to push for more.
She explained: “So I worked with the member states and we were able to improve the balance to 40 percent women and 60 percent men. And it shows that – as much as we have achieved – there is still so much more work to do.”
Commenting on her new top team, Mr Cleppe added: “In general, it really is ‘business as usual’.
“One of the most problematic appointments is Spanish socialist Teresa Ribera as EU Competition Commissioner. She is a hard-blooded Spanish leftist.
“The EU Commission already didn’t care much about combating unfair state aid before, now EU competition policy risks becoming completely politicised.”