The Secretary-General of the European Commission, Martin Selmayr, is preparing for his departure. On 15 July, he told Politico of his intention to leave the European Commission "by the end of next week". This information was confirmed to EUROPE on 16 July by the Commission.
The lawyer and senior EU official has been keen to put a stop to any rumours, denying having been ousted by Mrs von der Leyen. On the contrary, he claims that he had already suggested his departure from the Commission two weeks ago, to respect the unwritten rule that one cannot have 2 people of the same nationality in a position of power. However, this announcement comes after a meeting between Mrs von der Leyen and her political group in Parliament, the EPP Christian Democrats, and the S&D Socialists and Democrats, during which the candidate stated that she would remove Mr Selmayr from office once she was elected.
A former head of Jean-Claude Juncker's cabinet, Mr Selmayr had been under fire since his appointment as Secretary General, considered to have been done in a secretive manner. Backed by the European Ombudsman's conclusions, MEPs had repeatedly called for him to leave and for the appointment procedure to be reviewed (see EUROPE 12004/4, 12192/37). But the German - and, behind him, the whole Commission - had always opposed this.
The 48-year-old, who joined the European institutions 15 years ago, and went on to carry out the roles in turn of spokesman, Head of Cabinet and then campaign director for Jean-Claude Juncker in the 2014 European elections, is therefore preparing to leave Brussels. When asked who would succeed him, he said he would like to see a French national in his place. "This Commission is a Franco-German project and that's a good thing," he said, suggesting to Politico that the current Director General of Financial Services, Olivier Guersent, would be an ideal candidate.
According to our information, Olivier Bailly, the current Chief of Staff of the Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, could also be in the race. As far as the College of Commissioners is concerned, there are rumours that France is aiming for a Budget Commissioner role. Former Deputy Secretary-General of the Commission and current Director General of Research and Innovation Services, Jean-Eric Paquet is of sufficient rank to apply for the post. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)