from the gosh-what-a-shame dept

Thierry Breton has lastly taken the following logical step in his position because the EU’s censor: he’s talked himself out of his job.

Over the previous few years, Thierry Breton, the previous CEO of France Telecom, has spent the previous few years because the Commissioner for the Inner Market within the EU, the place he has positioned himself as a kind of tech regulatory czar. However, now he’s out. Whereas the press is describing it as a “resignation,” his personal letter admits that it’s as a result of the President of the European Fee, Ursula von der Leyen had requested that France suggest another person to be France’s designated candidate for a European Fee place.

For the previous few years, Breton has always boosted his personal profile in pursuit of tech coverage outcomes that he, personally, wished. As we’ve described, he has an extended historical past of each self-promotion and inflating his job as Commissioner into principally being a full tech czar. He has repeatedly interpreted the Digital Companies Act (DSA) to imply that he can demand sure content be removed, which has solely served to piss off EU colleagues, who preserve insisting the DSA is just not a censorship legislation.

He has additionally been main the cost within the EU to hamstring AI instruments, gleefully pushing a invoice that was largely conceived of previous to the generative AI increase, after which making an attempt to retrofit the legislation to that world, leading to fairly a regulatory mess.

Nonetheless, it had been assumed that he would preserve his job because the digital regulator as von der Leyen was ready to current her new slate of Commissioners. Every member state will get to designate somebody to be a Commissioner, and the larger international locations (e.g., Germany, France) typically get the upper profile/extra necessary roles.

Emmanuel Macron had designated Breton to proceed in that position, although there had been some issues that Breton was a liability. Breton had additionally pissed off von der Leyen again in March, tweeting out a mocking tweet about how she was outvoted by her personal get together, and suggesting perhaps she shouldn’t be main the EU.

On Monday, Breton tweeted out his “resignation.” It’s clear that von der Leyen had requested Macron for somebody apart from Breton, promising Macron that France would get a greater, extra influential Commissioner job if it was anybody however Breton. Therefore Breton’s resignation:

On 25 July. President Emmanuel Macron designated me as France’s official candidate for a second mandate within the School of Commissioners as he had already publicly introduced on the margins of the European Council on 28 June. A couple of days in the past, within the very ultimate stretch of negotiations on the composition of the longer term School, you requested France to withdraw my identify for private causes that in no occasion you’ve mentioned immediately with me and provided, as a political trade-off, an allegedly extra influential portfolio for France sooner or later School. You’ll now be proposed a special candidate.

And thus, he submitted his resignation “efficient instantly.”

In some way, he posted this letter with out together with a photograph of himself. That is stunning, given the overwhelming majority of his tweets embrace self-portraits (not selfies).

Macron quickly designated France’s outgoing overseas minister, Stéphane Séjourné, as Breton’s alternative. This doesn’t imply that Séjourné will get Breton’s project both, or that whoever does ultimately get it received’t be even worse than Breton was. Nevertheless it ought to function a reminder, but once more, of how a lot energy the European Commissioner has over how a few of these legal guidelines are interpreted.

On Tuesday, von der Leyen rolled out her proposed slate of Commissioners. Séjourné is up for “Prosperity and Industrial Power” no matter meaning. It’s under no circumstances clear the place the tech coverage portfolio will and, as there are a couple of locations it’d find yourself. Finland’s Henna Virkkunen is given “tech sovereignty” which once more is just not clear. Both approach Breton is out and we’ll see what comes of the brand new Fee.

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