PARIS/BRUSSELS: Thierry Breton of France stepped down as a member of the European Commission on Monday and said he would no longer be his country’s candidate for the next EU executive body, in an unexpected twist in the highly political EU power transition.
Breton, one of the highest-profile members of the European Commission for the past five years, is best known for sparring publicly with tech billionaire Elon Musk and playing a key role in shaping the 27-nation EU’s Big Tech regulation, its COVID-vaccine response and efforts to boost defense industries.
A former French minister and industrialist, Breton announced his resignation on X as Commission President Ursula von der Leyen prepares to announce this week who will be part of her new five-year team.
In his resignation letter, Breton alleged that von der Leyen “a few days ago” had asked France to withdraw his name as its pick for the Commission “for personal reasons” in return for an “allegedly more influential portfolio.”
He said France would indeed suggest another name in a rare last-minute change.
“In light of these latest developments — further testimony to questionable governance — I have to conclude that I can no longer exercise my duties in the College,” Breton said in the letter.
Reuters was unable to immediately verify the allegation. Von der Leyen’s office declined to make any immediate comment.
Breton, a former business executive, was the EU’s industry and internal market commissioner during her first term.
His and von der Leyen’s relationship had taken a turn for the worse over recent months. The French commissioner, a liberal, had angered von der Leyen by publicly criticizing her nomination as the European conservative EPP’s party candidate to head the Commission for a second term, EU officials have said.
Breton’s public feuds with Musk had also been met with dismay among other Commission colleagues, officials added.
Key jobs
As the EU’s second-biggest member state, France is vying for a major post in the new Commission team, which follows on European Parliament elections in June — the starting point every five years for a shake-up of key jobs in EU institutions that have a major impact on policymaking across the bloc.
Each EU member state will have one seat at the Commission’s table, although their political weight and importance varies greatly depending on the portfolio.
Having to replace Breton is likely to add to French President Emmanuel Macron’s woes at a time when he is still trying to pull together a government at home with new Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
The French presidency did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.
Breton steps down as France’s EU commissioner, criticizing von der Leyen
https://arab.news/n3m8s
Breton steps down as France’s EU commissioner, criticizing von der Leyen
- Breton, one of the highest-profile members of the European Commission for the past five years
- Each EU member state will have one seat at the Commission’s table
Militant attacks hit Mozambique as Total readies to resume gas project
- TotalEnergies paused its multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project in 2021
- TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said that the security situation had ‘greatly improved’
The group terrorized northern Mozambique for years before brazenly vowing in 2020 to turn the northern gas-rich Cabo Delgado province into a caliphate.
TotalEnergies paused a multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project there in 2021 following a wave of bloody raids that forced more than a million people to flee.
The insurgency was pushed to the background by a months-long unrest that followed elections in October.
But there has been a new wave of violence. In May, the Islamists attacked two military installations, claiming to kill 11 soldiers in the first and 10 in the second.
A security expert confirmed the first attack and put the toll at 17. There was no comment from the Mozambican security forces.
There were two dramatic strikes earlier – a raid on a wildlife reserve in the neighboring Niassa province late April killed at least two rangers, while an ambush in Cabo Delgado claimed the lives of three Rwandan soldiers.
Also unusual was a thwarted attack on a Russian oceanographic vessel in early May that the crew said in a distress message was launched by “pirates,” according to local media.
“Clearly there is a cause and effect because some actions correspond exactly to important announcements in the gas area,” said Fernando Lima, a researcher with the Cabo Ligado conflict observatory which monitors violence in Mozambique, referring to the $4.7 billion funding approved in mid-March by the US Export-Import Bank for the long-delayed gas project.
“The insurgents are seeing more vehicles passing by with white project managers,” said Jean-Marc Balencie of the French-based political and security risk group Attika Analysis.
“There’s more visible activity in the region and that’s an incentive for attacks.”
Conflict tracker ACLED recorded at least 80 attacks in the first four months of the year.
The uptick was partly due to the end of the rainy season which meant roads were once again passable, it said.
TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said last Friday that the security situation had “greatly improved” although there were “sporadic incidents.”
The attack that stalled the TotalEnergies project in 2021 occurred in the port town of Palma and lasted several days, sending thousands fleeing into the forest.
ACLED estimated that more than 800 civilians and combatants were killed while independent journalist Alex Perry reported after an investigation that more than 1,400 were dead or missing.
Rwandan forces deployed alongside the Mozambique military soon afterwards, their number increasing to around 5,000, based on Rwandan military statements.
The concentration of forces in Cabo Delgado “allows insurgents to easily conduct operations in Niassa province,” said a Mozambican military officer on condition of anonymity.
The raid on the tourist wildlife lodge straddling Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces was for “propaganda effect,” said Lima, as it grabbed more international media attention than hits on local villages that claim the lives of locals.
Strikes on civilians, with several cases of decapitation reported, often fall under the radar because of the remoteness of the impoverished region and official silence.
“More than 25,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique within a few weeks,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said last week.
This was in addition to the 1.3 million the UN said in November had been displaced since the conflict began in 2017.
“The renewed intensity of the conflict affects regions previously considered rather stable,” said UNHCR’s Mozambique representative Xavier Creach.
In Niassa, for example, about 2,085 people fled on foot after an attack on Mbamba village late April where women reported witnessing beheadings.
More than 6,000 people have died in the conflict since it erupted, according to Acled.
East Timor deports ex-Philippine lawmaker wanted in 2023 killings
- Former Philippines congressman allegedly masterminded a March 2023 attack that killed then-provincial governor Roel Degamo and nine others
- “The Government hereby informs that Arnolfo Teves Jr. will be deported from Timor-Leste”
MANILA: East Timor deported an Interpol-wanted Filipino murder suspect on Thursday whose case the government has linked to its aspirations to join the regional ASEAN bloc, after more than two years of political wrangling.
Former Philippines congressman Arnolfo Teves allegedly masterminded a March 2023 attack that killed then-provincial governor Roel Degamo and nine others.
AFP journalists saw him boarding a turboprop plane with Philippine Air Force markings that then took off from Presidente Nicolau Lobato International Airport.
Teves was detained at a driving range in the capital Dili last year, but a Timorese court blocked his extradition. The Philippines justice secretary suggested the decision may have been bought, saying it was “obvious that some people are making money out of this.”
In an abrupt turnaround, East Timor announced Teves’ impending deportation late on Wednesday, saying his continued presence represented a security risk.
“The Government hereby informs that Arnolfo Teves Jr. will be deported from Timor-Leste,” it said in a statement, using the country’s alternate name.
It added that East Timor’s “imminent full accession” to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had reinforced its responsibility to collaborate regionally on legal matters.
On Thursday, the Philippines’ Department of Justice said it was preparing a team to facilitate Teves’ repatriation based on deportation documents from East Timor.
Ex-lawmaker Teves is the prime suspect in the murder of Degamo, the former governor of Negros Oriental province.
Degamo had been distributing aid at his home in Pamplona when six people carrying rifles and dressed in military fatigues entered the compound and opened fire on March 4, 2023.
The killings came months after Degamo was declared winner of a disputed vote, unseating Henry Teves, the ex-lawmaker’s brother.
Arnolfo Teves was expelled from the House of Representatives after refusing to return to the Philippines to face murder charges.
On Wednesday, Teves’ son Axl posted videos on social media of his father being dragged away by Timorese police, claiming he had been “kidnapped.”
Degamo’s widow Janice, meanwhile, called the arrest a “significant step toward justice.”
Thai, Cambodian army chiefs to meet over border clash
- A Cambodian soldier was killed on Wednesday during an exchange of gunfire with the Thai army at the border
- Cambodia and Thailand have long been at odds over their more than 800-kilometer-long border
BANGKOK: The military chiefs of Thailand and Cambodia will meet Thursday, both governments said, after a Cambodian soldier was killed in a border clash.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra told reporters on Thursday that “both sides should remain calm and discuss to see what we can agree,” and called for peaceful discussion.
Her Cambodian counterpart Hun Manet wrote on Facebook that he hoped the meeting between the two army commanders “will yield positive results.”
Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told journalists the talks will be held on Thursday afternoon, adding that there had been a “misunderstanding by both sides.”
A Cambodian soldier was killed on Wednesday during an exchange of gunfire with the Thai army at the border, a Cambodian army spokesman said.
His death – a rare fatality along the long-sensitive frontier – came after Cambodian and Thai leaders attended a Southeast Asian summit where the regional ASEAN grouping vowed greater cooperation.
Thailand’s military said Wednesday that its soldiers fired in response to gunshots from Cambodia’s border force, leading to an exchange lasting around 10 minutes before the Thai side said the Cambodians requested a ceasefire.
Cambodian Royal Army spokesman Mao Phalla confirmed the clash on Wednesday, but said Thai soldiers had attacked Cambodian troops who were on border patrol duty in northern Preah Vihear province.
“Our soldier died in the trenches. The Thais came to attack us,” Mao Phalla said.
Cambodia and Thailand have long been at odds over their more than 800-kilometer-long (500-mile) border, which was largely drawn during the French occupation of Indochina.
Bloody military clashes between the Southeast Asian neighbors erupted in 2008 over the Preah Vihear temple near their shared border.
The row over a patch of land next to the 900-year-old temple led to several years of sporadic violence, resulting in at least 28 deaths before the International Court of Justice ruled the disputed area belonged to Cambodia.
In February, Bangkok formally protested to Phnom Penh after a video of women singing a patriotic Khmer song in front of another disputed temple was posted on social media.
On Thursday, influential former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen – Hun Manet’s father, and an ally of Paetongtarn’s father, ex-Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra – urged calm and a peaceful resolution to the ongoing border issues between the two countries.
Paetongtarn traveled to Cambodia in April for a two-day visit, during which she met Hun Manet to discuss cross-border cooperation on issues such as online scams and air pollution.
Navy plane crashes in South Korea
SEOUL: A navy plane has crashed in the southern city of Pohang in South Korea, a local government official said on Thursday.
The crash happened at around 1:50 p.m. (0450 GMT), the official at the Pohang city government said.
Four people were on board the patrol plane which crashed in the mountains on the east coast, the Yonhap News Agency reported, citing authorities.
Smoke was seen from the location where the plane appeared to have crashed, Yonhap said, citing a civilian witness.
Early voting starts for South Korea election triggered by martial law
- South Koreans are desperate to draw a line under months of political turmoil
- The Asian democracy has been led by a revolving door of lame duck acting presidents
SEOUL: Early voting in South Korea’s presidential elections began on Thursday, with both main candidates casting ballots in a poll triggered by ex-leader Yoon Suk Yeol’s ill-fated suspension of civilian rule last year.
South Koreans are desperate to draw a line under months of political turmoil sparked by Yoon’s declaration of martial law, for which he was impeached.
Since then the Asian democracy has been led by a revolving door of lame duck acting presidents as its export-driven economy grapples with trade turmoil abroad and sluggish demand at home.
All major polls have placed liberal Lee Jae-myung as the clear frontrunner in the presidential race, with a recent Gallup survey showing 49 percent of respondents viewed him as the best candidate.
Trailing behind him is conservative ex-labor minister Kim Moon-soo of the ruling People Power Party – Yoon’s former party – at 35 percent.
While election day is set for June 3, those who want to vote early can do so on Thursday and Friday.
South Koreans have in recent years turned out in growing numbers for early voting, with 37 percent casting their ballots ahead of polling day in the 2022 presidential election.
By midday the early voting turnout rate was 8.7 percent, the highest yet for that time in South Korean election history, according to Seoul’s National Election Commission.
The overseas voter turnout also reached a historic high, with four-fifths of 1.97 million eligible voters casting their ballots.
“Given that this election was held in the wake of an impeachment and a martial law crisis, it naturally reflects the public’s strong desire to express their thoughts about democracy in South Korea,” Kang Joo-hyun, a political science professor at Sookmyung Women’s University, said.
Voting in Seoul on Thursday morning, Lee told reporters: “There’s a saying that a vote is more powerful than a bullet.”
“Even an insurrection can only truly be overcome through the people’s participation at the ballot box,” added Lee of the Democratic Party.
According to a Gallup poll, more than half of his supporters said they planned to vote early, compared to just 16 percent of Kim’s supporters.
Kim has said he will cast his vote in Incheon, west of Seoul, with his campaign framing it as “the beginning of a dramatic turnaround,” a nod to General Douglas MacArthur’s landing there during the Korean War.
Kim’s decision to vote early has surprised many on the right, where conspiracy theories about electoral fraud – particularly during early voting – are rife.
The 73-year-old however reassured his supporters that there is “nothing to worry about.”
“If you hesitate to vote early and end up missing the main election, it would be a major loss,” said Kim on Wednesday.
“Our party will mobilize all its resources to ensure strict monitoring and oversight of early voting,” he said.
“So please don’t worry and take part in it,” he said.
After early voting, Kim insisted he still has time to win the race.
“We’re closing the gap quickly, and at this pace, I’m confident we’ll take the lead soon,” he told reporters.
Conservative candidate Kim shot to public attention in the aftermath of Yoon’s martial law debacle, when he declined to bow in apology to the public for failing to prevent the suspension of civilian rule.
In contrast, lawyer-turned-politician Lee played a central role in stopping the push to suspect civilian rule, live-streaming his frantic drive to parliament and his scramble over the perimeter fence as he and other lawmakers raced to vote down the decree.
He has since vowed to “bring insurrection elements to justice” if elected president.
But whoever succeeds Yoon will have to grapple with a deepening economic downturn, some of the world’s lowest birth rates and a soaring cost of living.
He will also have to navigate a mounting superpower standoff between the United States, Seoul’s traditional security guarantor, and China, its largest trade partner.
