Will Thierry Breton enter the government?

This is the question that everyone was asking on Monday after the announcement of the French commissioner’s last-minute arrival. A decision that was taken on Sunday afternoon in the president’s office.

A speed that suggests that Thierry Breton, who attacked Ursula von der Leyen in his resignation letter published on Monday, but forgave Emmanuel Macron, who nevertheless abandoned him in the open field, could have negotiated an exit from the government.

A scenario, however, denied by some. “Breton at Bercy is nonsense,” they protested yesterday in Brussels. We will be scheduled for the end of the week, when Michel Barnier will have completed his casting.

And also

• The man to watch in Brussels

Bertrand L’Huillier, currently deputy head of the cabinet of the outgoing foreign minister, in charge of Europe, could take over from the future executive vice-president of the Commission in charge of competitiveness and prosperity, Stéphane Séjourné.

He was already her chief of staff in the European Parliament. Behind the scenes, he worked intensively with the outgoing foreign minister on the election of Ursula von der Leyen. “Without Macron and Séjourné, this would not happen,” says a source at the centre of the negotiations. Perhaps the time has come for the reward.

• The old family dispute between Michel Barnier and Stéphane Séjourné

I’m not sure that Michel Barnier really appreciated the appointment of Stéphane Séjourné in Brussels. Apart from the fact that the new Prime Minister was presented with a fait accompli – “which says a lot about the real relationship between Barnier and Macron,” jokes one informed observer – the former collaborator of the President and the new Prime Minister have had a minor feud since 2019.

Five years ago, Stéphane Séjourné, head of the Renew list in the European elections, refused to include Michel Barnier’s son, Nicolas Barnier, in the third eligible position on the Renaissance list.

Nicolas Barnier, then 33 years old, had finally made it onto the Belgian list of the President of the Council, Charles Michel, for the “Reformist Movement”; in third place. Unfortunately, the list had only gathered – unluckily – two seats in the European Parliament.