Bonum Certa Men Certa

Understanding Thierry Breton: Emmanuel Macron and His “Joker” in Brussels

Overview





Understanding Thierry Breton



Epilogue will follow.




ING
ING was quick off the mark to place its seal of approval on Breton's appointment



Summary: How did Breton return to the political arena after an absence of over 10 years and ended up as the EU Commissioner for the Internal Market?

Following initial approval by the screening committee of MEPs on 14 November 2019, Thierry Breton's appointment as the new EU Commissioner for the Internal Market was finally confirmed at a plenary session of the European Parliament held on 27 November 2019.



Ursula's tweet
Breton's appointment as a member of the new EU Commission was confirmed on 27 November 2019



Before the official confirmation had been announced, Julien Manceaux a senior economist with ING Bank was already singing Breton's praises in an adulatory puff-piece published by the bank under the title "France to get super-portfolio in new EU Commission".

ING not found



For some unknown reason, the puff piece has disappeared from the ING website but it can still be found via Google Cache and on other websites where it was republished.

"So how did he return to the political arena after an absence of over 10 years and ended up as the EU Commissioner for the Internal Market?"The sole opposition to Breton's appointment in the European Parliament came from MEPs of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left bloc (GUE/NGL) who expressed concerns about his conflicts of interest. The MEPs who criticised his appointment took the position that he should not be placed in charge of a portfolio that has significant areas of overlap with his previous private sector activities as CEO of the French multinational Atos.

In an earlier part of this series, it was explained how Breton previously pursued a brief but eventful political career as Chirac's entrepreneurial "joker" in Bercy between 2005 and 2007. So how did he return to the political arena after an absence of over 10 years and ended up as the EU Commissioner for the Internal Market? To understand this, it's necessary to take another look at domestic politics in France and the rise of Breton's current political sponsor, Emmanuel Macron.

To the uninformed Breton and Macron seem like improbable political bedfellows.

"To the uninformed Breton and Macron seem like improbable political bedfellows."The former CEO at France Télécom served his political apprenticeship in the ranks of the centre-right UMP under the guiding hand of Jacques Chirac, a convicted felon, who received a two year suspended sentence in 2011 for "longstanding and reiterated practices" of illegal party financing during his time mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.

According to media reports, Chirac was involved in channeling about € 2.2 million from the City of Paris to pay for at least 21 people who were employed in fake jobs on the city payroll while actually engaged in national party politics as he prepared to run for the presidency.

Chirac, Breton
Breton was the "teacher's pet" of his mentor Jacques Chirac



Breton was the "teacher's pet" among a number of prominent French political figures including, Nicolas Sarkozy and Christine Lagarde, who were mentored by "Oncle Jacques".

At the beginning of his career, Sarkozy had very close ties to the Chirac clan. At one stage he was touted as a prospective son-in-law due to his rumoured liaison amoureuse with Chirac's daughter Claude.

Sarko, Chirac
The youthful Sarkozy attending a tennis tournament
together with Papa Chirac and daughter Claude (1985)



But the ambitious understudy Sarkozy had plans of his own which eventually led to a political rift with his mentor.

It was on the opposite side of the bipartisan divide that Emmanuel Macron cut his political teeth. From 2006 to 2009, he was a member of the Socialist Party.

Hollande Flanby
François Hollande - nicknamed “Flanby” after Nestlé's wobbly caramel pudding



Macron's patron and mentor in the Socialist party was François Hollande, nicknamed "Flanby" after a brand of wobbly caramel pudding produced by Nestlé. Hollande's public image as a vacillator and his perceived lack of resolve led to him being lampooned as "a living marshmallow".

In May 2012. when Hollande defeated Sarkozy to become President of the Republic, he persuaded the Macron to join his team as a deputy secretary general, which gave the ambitious "boy wonder" a role as one of the President's key advisers.

Hollande, Macron
Macron with his patron and mentor François Hollande



In August 2014, Macron was elevated to a cabinet position as Minister for the Economy and Industry where he championed a number of business-friendly reforms.

Two years later in August 2016, he resigned from the government to launch his own campaign for the 2017 presidential election under the banner of a new "centrist" political movement called En Marche! which he had founded in April 2016.

Macron as centrist
Ex-banker Macron reinvents himself as a new "centrist" demagogue



To those unfamiliar with the French political landscape, the reincarnation of the UMP-aligned Thierry Breton as Macron's "joker" in Brussels has the appearance of a miraculous and inexplicable transformation. But as soon as one makes the effort to look beyond the façade of bipartisan politics in France the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fall into place and everything suddenly becomes much less mysterious.

What needs to be understood here is that, irrespective of whether their political roots are in the nominally "centre-right" UMP or in the nominally "centre-left" Socialist Party, all French Presidents are ultimately faithful and obedient servants of the plutocratic elite who call the shots behind the scenes.

ENA presidency
Énarques to a man - with the exception of Sarkozy.



With the exception of Nicolas Sarkozy, all Presidents of the postwar Fifth Republic have been graduates of the grandes écoles, a group of highly selective and elitist educational establishments that are separate to the main framework of the public university system.

"With the exception of Nicolas Sarkozy, all Presidents of the postwar Fifth Republic have been graduates of the grandes écoles..."Staring with Valéry Giscard d'Estaing who succeeded Georges Pompidou -- and once again with the exception of Sarkozy -- the office of President has been occupied since 1974 by an Énarque, as the graduates of the École Nationale d'Administration (ENA) are known.

The ENA was created in 1945 by French President, Charles de Gaulle, and the principal author of the French Constitution, Michel Debré, as part of a plan for the reform of the civil service in postwar France. The implementation of this plan was, to a large extent, entrusted to the Stalinist Maurice Thorez, leader of the French Communist Party (PCF) who served as Deputy Prime Minister from 1946 to 1947.

ENA and water
France's ENA - a Stalinist-inspired finishing school for the technocratic elite



One of the remarkable ironies of the Fifth Republic is that the ENA was established with the aim of democratising access to the senior civil service in postwar France. However, it soon developed into the incubator of a new technocratic elite whose members form a tightly-knit network that suffers from an almost pathological level of groupthink.

The formation at the ENA leads to the forging of incestuous bonds between future political, administrative and business leaders, and these are reinforced as the Énarques circulate between these spheres of activity in the course of their careers thanks to the ubiquitous revolving doors linking the public and private sectors.

French presidents alongside
Sarkozy (UMP), Hollande (Socialist) flanking Macron ("Centrist"): "Gentlemen, if we continue walking in this direction I am confident that we will arrive at a revolving door in due course…"



The result is complete and utter "Énarchie" -- the emergence of a veritable mafia-like entity that dominates political and business life and where loyalty to the "brotherhood" outweighs all other considerations including such trivial things as party political allegiances.

"The formation at the ENA leads to the forging of incestuous bonds between future political, administrative and business leaders, and these are reinforced as the Énarques circulate between these spheres of activity in the course of their careers thanks to the ubiquitous revolving doors linking the public and private sectors."As Alain Madelin, Minister for Industry under Jacques Chirac, once put it: "Ireland has the IRA, Spain the ETA, Italy the Mafia, and France has the ENA."

An illustrative example of the extreme fluidity of political boundaries in France can be found in the case of Bernard Tapie, businessman, occasional actor, singer, TV host and convicted corruptionist.

Tapie is associated with the Radical Party of the Left, a close ally of the main centre-left Socialist Party, and he briefly served as Minister for Urban Affairs under the Socialist President François Mitterand from December 1992 to March 1993.

"This kind of shenanigans is par for the course in the Machiavellian world of French politics."However, during the 2007 presidential election, Tapie switched his political allegiance to UMP candidate Sarkozy. Tapie's ideological U-turn was attributed to "tax issues" which Sarkozy reportedly promised to resolve if he were elected. Detail which subsequently emerged in court during the trial which led to the conviction of Christine Lagarde in 2016, indicate that Sarkozy kept his promise to Tapie.

This kind of shenanigans is par for the course in the Machiavellian world of French politics.

So when the new "centrist" movement set up by the Énarque Macron started to gain traction in 2016, various figures from different regions of the party political spectrum emerged from the wings to hitch their horses to his bandwagon as it started rolling across the French political landscape.

Macron sheet
A new political "star" is born… the unstoppable rise of Emmanuel Macron



For example, the former UMP President Sarkozy seized his chance for a come-back on Macron's coat-tails. This led him to initiate a bizarre political courtship with the new kid on the block which slowly blossomed into a "strange bromance".

Macron, Sarko
"Nice" to see you, to see you "Nice"...
Emmanuel and Nicolas bromancing at an official celebration in Nice (14 July 2017)



Sarkozy has been plagued by multiple scandals since losing his 2012 re-election bid. Amongst other things, he is reportedly under investigation or facing trial on various charges of corruption and influence peddling. However, none of that seems to bother Macron who sends him around the world on diplomatic missions at taxpayers' expense to places as diverse as Georgia and Japan.

Just like his erstwhile cabinet colleague Sarkozy, Thierry Breton was another former UMP luminary who decided to put his money on the new rising star of the French political firmament.

On 12 April 2016 -- less than a week after the inauguration of "En Marche!" -- the new "Sequana" supercomputer from Bull was unveiled by the Atos CEO in the presence of his VIP guest, who at the time still held the post of Minister for Economy and Finance.

Macron, Breton
"The hardware is awesome, all we need now is someone to take care of the software…"
"How about getting Benoît to do the job? I have heard the most wonderful stories about his achievements at the EPO."



Fast forward to April 2018: less than a year into Macron's presidency Thierry was beginning to reap the dividends for pursuing his "early adoption" strategy.

Macron, Trump
Emmanuel and "the Donald" at the White House in April 2018



To be more precise, the Atos CEO was selected to accompany the French President on a state visit to the good ol' US of€ A in the context of a transatlantic charm offensive targeting "the Donald". This provided the Atos CEO with a golden opportunity for some high-level corporate networking and a chance to promote his own proprietary brand of French "Bull".

Breton tweet on Macron
Thierry promoting his own proprietary brand of French "Bull" in the USA



Thierry didn't just enjoy "Breakfast in America" with Emmanuel. He also made it onto the exclusive guest list for the state dinner at the White House.

White House list
After a hard day's networking, time to grab a nosebag at the White House…



Thierry was joined at the banquet table in no. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington D.C. by some familiar faces including... wait for it, folks... his old cabinet colleague, the IMF "killer-shark" Christine Lagarde and LVMH's Lord of Luxury, the one-and-only Bernard Arnault.

Breton's prominent role in Macron's entourage during the US state visit in April 2018 is indicative of his privileged position in the French President's "inner circle".

"Breton's prominent role in Macron's entourage during the US state visit in April 2018 is indicative of his privileged position in the French President's "inner circle"."When Sylvie Goulard, Macron's initial nominee for EU Commissioner, came a cropper after an intense grilling before the European Parliament in October of this year it was no real surprise to those in the know when the French President turned to his trusted friend, Atos CEO Thierry Breton, to help him out of a hole.

Initial speculation that Breton's nomination might meet the same fate as that of Madame Goulard turned out to be unfounded and his place in the new EU Commission has now been officially rubber-stamped.

In the next part we will examine some high-level connections to the world of international finance which Macron and Breton have in common.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft XBox Layoffs: Almost 2,000 Layoffs Became "Over 2,000"? (Over 20% of the Staff)
over 20% of staff will be let go, not counting staff that leaves voluntarily
Summer Plans in Techrights and Elsewhere
massive layoffs at Microsoft
 
EPO Presentation Bemoans Misuse of Slop in Decision-Making on Patents and in Classification (Which is Likely Illegal Too)
We habitually mention failed use cases of LLMs on the Web
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Confirmed, "XBox Hardware Is Dead"
It's possible that over 20% of the staff will be laid off
Links 30/06/2025: Kyrgyzstan vs Media Freedom, Dalai Lama Succession
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/06/2025: Backend Programs in Gemini and Dynamic Content Without The Scripting
Links for the day
Links 30/06/2025: Zuckerberg’s Tax-Evading Scheme Harms Kids, US Copyright Office Lacks Leadership
Links for the day
Microsoft Isn't Laying Off Tens of Thousands to 'Invest' in Slop ('Hey Hi'), It's Laying Off Tens of Thousands Because It's Running Out of Money (and Willing Lenders)
the layoffs are a sign of the business failing, not "hey hi" (whatever that is) replacing staff
Intel Lays Off 20% of Its Workforce, Microsoft is Doing the Same This Year
Like a yoyo, whatever goes up will come back down
GNU/Linux Rises to New Highs in Angola, Africa in General is Abandoning Windows
Western media barely covers Microsoft layoffs in Africa, but in recent years Microsoft culled the workforce and even shut down entire operations
Destination Geminispace (in the Age of LLM Slop and Slop Images That Infest the Web and Social Control Media)
Geminispace isn't vast, but at least it is - on average - a lot "cleaner"
GNU/Linux Growing in Sierra Leone This Year
Based on what statCounter is seeing, this year there are more and more people there who adopt GNU/Linux
Serial Sloppers Gonna Slop
More sites out there ought to call out the cheaters
Quartz (qz.com) is Spam and a Slopfarm
It used to be OK. Then they fired the staff.
Links 30/06/2025: US Economic Woes, Extreme Heat
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 29, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 29, 2025
Gemini Links 30/06/2025: "The AI Hype" and New AuraGem Ask
Links for the day
Our Desktops Are Not Your Experiments, X is Not an Experiment
Breaking what already worked
Microsoft's Big Lies Regarding This Week's Mass Layoffs Have Already Begun (and They're Already Being Spread by Slopfarms)
Microsoft is the "market leader" in slop
Explaining the Full Story of SLAPPs From Microsoft Staff
For every action there is a reaction, for every attack there will be proportionate consequences
The Openwashing Shills Initiative (OSI) - Part III: IRS and Status of OSI
"They lied to the US IRS and there’s a paper trail"
IBM Red Hat's Dogmatic Fanaticism Under a Thin Veil of "Modernism"
IBM now has the audacity to paint people who don't agree as "nazis"
Microsoft's Share in Guatemala Fell From 97% to 14%
Eventually Microsoft will get stuck in a loop of layoffs, layoffs, and more layoffs
They Made Technology Scary and Taught Us That It's Innocent, Friendly, Even "Social"
Rejection of all this "apps" and "gadgets" and "Smart" (whatever that means!) status quo isn't a rejection of society
The Media is Under Attacks Partly Because There's Little Other (Remaining) Press to Speak in Its Defence
The biggest danger here is that when there's very little press or no "opposition media" left it becomes even easier to crush critics because there aren't many people left to speak about the matter
If Your Web Site is Run by Bots, Eventually Nobody Will 'Read' It Except Bots (People Don't Want to Read Slop)
Eventually people learn from mistakes
Links 29/06/2025: Microsoft Releases False/Fake Benchmarks, "Google Wants You to Watch Ads or Take Surveys to Read Articles"
Links for the day
Links 29/06/2025: Data Breaches and Online Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 29/06/2025: "The Price Of Eggs" and Gemini 3D Tic Tac Toe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 28, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, June 28, 2025
The "News" You Saw About Canonical is Misleading, It Made Only 18 Million Dollars Last Year and Barely Paid Any Taxes
Lies are the norm these days...
Pushing Wayland Using Straw Man Arguments
phoronix.com has long promoted the talking point of "Wayland people" (for at least a decade already)
Australia: Windows Fell to All-Time Low, Even Lower Than iOS
There's a good reason why next week there will be so many Microsoft layoffs
Slopwatch: Linuxsecurity, WebProNews, and Google News Boosting Slopfarms as 'News'
People who don't recognise the slopfarms and don't know which sites are fake would struggle to understand what's really going on
Links 28/06/2025: Hardware/GPU Wars, GAFAM Throws Money (Borrowed Cash) at Hopeless Slop Pipe Dream
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/06/2025: Shellshock and Network UPS Tools
Links for the day
Links 28/06/2025: The Age of Integrity and FreeBSD Foundation Added John Baldwin as Board Member
Links for the day
Fedora 44
IBM now does to Fedora what it did to RHEL
Microsoft Already Shaved Off Costs Anywhere It Could. It Was Not Enough.
Office and Windows aren't "selling" (licences) like they used to
Scheduled Maintenance Next Week
Our community is alive and well
BetaNews: We're Publishing LLM Slop About LLM Slop
Beta version of a slopfarm?
3-Month Updates on Our Complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
In short, the complaint remains open, updated, and is advancing
IBM Red States Hat (Project 2025): Our "New Thing" Replaces This "Old Thing"
The new replaces the old. That's how IBM frames it.
Start X
Just because something is old does not mean it is bad
Slopwatch: Linuxsecurity, Google News Slopfarms, and Linux Journal (LJ)
Today we take a quick look at 3 slopfarms
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 27, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 27, 2025
Links 28/06/2025: "CC Signals" Virtue-Signals to Slop Ponzi Schemes, North Korea Aims for Tourism
Links for the day