Asked whether the pair got back together after Macron called a snap election in 2024, Attal said: “Yes, we never really lost track of one another … we carried on talking as if we didn’t want the break-up to be total and become a reality. I feel extremely lucky,” he added.
But the renewal of their romantic relationship could turn into a potential conflict of interest, given Attal’s national ambitions in France. The former PM, who is a lawmaker and leader of Macron’s Renaissance Party, made no secret of his intention to run in the next presidential election.
Attal is kicking off a tour of France and will hold a campaign rally in Paris at the end of May. In an interview with the weekly Le Point, he said he knows “how to preside [over] France” and is working on proposals on health, constitutional reform and labor relations.
As a European commissioner, Séjourné swore an oath upon taking office to prioritize the bloc’s interests and be independent of national matters. His term runs beyond 2027 and will have to work with France’s next president, who might be one of Attal’s political rivals in the upcoming electoral campaign.
But if Attal won the French presidential election, the European Commission would be entering uncharted territory. There are no rules regulating personal relations between commissioners and heads of state, let alone precedents.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has the legal power to remove commissioners, though she has never done so — even though Thierry Breton accused her of pressuring him to go before finally resigning in 2024.