If the last five years of EU tech regulations could take on a human form, it would include Thierry Breton. The burly commissioner, with his white hair, became the public face of Brussels’ anger at American bullies, visiting Silicon Valley last summer to remind the industry of the coming deadlines.
Controversial and outspoken, Breton warned that Apple had spent too long “squeezing” other companies into the market. In the case against TikTok, he emphasized that, “our children are not social media pigs.”
His confrontational attitude with the CEOs themselves was reflected in his positions on X. Before Musk’s interview with Donald Trump, Breton posted a vague but threatening letter to his account reminding Musk that there will be consequences if he uses his platform to promote. “harmful content.” Last year, he published a photo with Mark Zuckerberg, announcing the EU’s new slogan “move fast to fix things” – a jibe at Facebook’s infamous slogan. And in a 2023 meeting with Google CEO Sundar Photosi, Breton reportedly got him to agree to an “AI deal” on the spot, before sending the deal, making it difficult for Photosi to back down.
But in this week’s reshuffle of the EU’s top jobs, Breton resigned – a decision he alleged was due to collusion between EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and French president Emmanuel Macron.
“I’m sure [the tech giants are] happy mr. Breton will leave, because he understands that you have to hit the shareholders’ pockets when it comes to fines,” said Umberto Gambini, a former adviser to the EU Parliament and now a partner in the consultancy Forward Global.
Breton will be replaced by Finnish politician Henna Virkkunen, from the centrist EPP group, who previously worked on the Digital Services Act.
“His style is definitely less brutal and maybe less X-like than Breton,” Gambini said. “It can be an opportunity to start over and rekindle a relationship.”
Little is known about Virkkunen’s attitude towards the role of Big Tech in the European economy. But her role has been reshaped to suit von der Leyen’s priorities for her next five-year term. While Breton is internal market commissioner, Virkkunen will work with the same team but work under the enhanced title of senior vice president for technology sovereignty, security and democracy, meaning he reports directly to von der Leyen.
The 27 commissioners, who make up von der Leyen’s new team and are each given a different task to focus on, still have to be approved by the European Parliament—a process that could take weeks.
“[Previously]it was quite clear that the commission was ambitious when it thought and proposed a new law that would deal with all these different threats that they saw, especially those caused by large technology platforms,” ​​said Mathias Vermeulen, director of public policy Brussels-based consultancy AWO. “That is no longer a political priority, in the sense that the law has been passed and now it has to be implemented.”