EU commissioner Thierry Breton, bane of Big Tech, resigns

The European Union’s internal market commissioner — a bane of US tech companies in particular — unexpectedly resigned, throwing the bloc’s impending cabinet announcement into disarray.

In his resignation letter, Thierry Breton accused European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of going behind his back to Paris in an effort to replace him.

Breton had overseen many of the EU’s highest-profile policies, including its regulation of Big Tech and its efforts to ramp up arms production. But he clashed with von der Leyen, who had been expected this week to unveil her slate of commissioners, a process that she hopes will kickstart her second term, but which has been beset by delays.