[Portrait] Who governs Thierry Breton, the commissioner with three portfolios?

(B2) In charge of the Internal Market, Industry and Defense, and Digital Affairs, the French commissioner was one of the last of the von der Leyen team to form his cabinet. At the helm, a solid team

The majority of members of the commissioner's cabinet are also French. If one of them has been following Thierry Breton for many years, the others are experts in the European machine and will be able to guide the commissioner through its obstacles.

Chief of Staff : Valère Moutarlier (French)

Before joining Thierry Breton's office, Valère Moutarlier held the position of director of corporate taxation at the DG Taxation, since the fall of 2014. But he spent a good part of his career within the DG Enterprise ( today DG Industry aka GROW).

Graduated in 1989 in business law, economics and finance from the University of Paris II (Assas) and Sciences Po Paris, he worked as a lawyer in tax law at the Bureau Francis Lefebvre until 1993, when he left for Brussels. He then joined DG Taxation at the European Commission. He was then assistant to the Director General (Jean-Paul Mingasson) at DG Budget in the early 2000s. In 2003, he was appointed head of the 'Strategic Planning and Management' unit of DG Enterprise. From 2006 to 2010, he was head of unit of the GMES office (global monitoring for environment and security), responsible in particular for setting up the Copernicus system. In 2010, he joined the office of the European Commissioner for Taxation and the Customs Union, the Lithuanian Algirdas Šemeta, a position he held until 2014.

Deputy chief of staff : Lucía Caudet Balzer (German-Spanish)

Files: industrial strategy, green pact, automobile, artificial intelligence

Well known to the press, Lucía Caudet Balzer has been the spokesperson for the Juncker Commission for the Internal Market, Industry, Research and Innovation since 2014 (2014-2019), having added in recent months to her portfolio already loaded, competition policy.

A law graduate from the Free University of Berlin (FUB), the Autonomous University of Madrid and the Free University of Brussels (ULB), she first worked as assistant to the secretary-general of the Union of European federalists from 2000 to 2002, then moved to the private sector as spokesperson for the European Committee of Insurance Companies (today Insurance Europe) from 2002 to 2006. She was then, from 2006 to 2014, a partner in the company consulting and public relations firm GPLUS, one of the most influential lobbying and communications companies in Brussels.

She speaks German, Spanish, French and English fluently and practices Dutch and Portuguese.

Firm experts :

Fabrice Comptour (French)

Files: technological sovereignty, data, 5G, cybersecurity, space and defense

The defense industry is a subject that Fabrice Comptour knows inside out. He was indeed an advisor in the cabinet of Thierry Breton's predecessor, Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska (2014-2019), and notably followed the entire establishment of the European Defense Fund and its avatars (defense preparatory action and program of European Defense Industrial Development EDIDP). He was also in charge of space issues, the digital agenda, the collaborative economy, intellectual property and innovation. He led Th. Breton's transition team between October and November 2019 before he was officially appointed European Commissioner.

A graduate in engineering from Supélec in 2006, the Frenchman obtained a master's degree in innovation management and technology from Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden. Simultaneously, he works at Avinode Group, a Swedish company that operates as a technology provider for the aviation industry. He is also a graduate of the College of Europe in European economics. His career within the European Commission is almost entirely in cabinets. In October 2008, he joined the office of Frenchman Jacques Barrot, then Commissioner in charge of Justice, as an intern, and then became an advisor to the office in charge of fundamental rights (2009-2010), after having joined the DG Justice for a few months (2009). . When the Commission was renewed, he moved to the cabinet of the Cypriot Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education and Culture, in charge of economic files (2010-2014).

advisors

Terence Zakka (French)

Communications advisor, responsible for combating disinformation

A graduate of Sciences Po with a master's degree in communications, also giving courses at the Sciences Po communications school, Terence Zakka will be the 'image' and 'communication' man for the commissioner whom he knows well from having managed press relations of the Atos company (2016-2018), then external 'world' communications from 2018. He joined the company in the fall of 2014, becoming head of Atos' digital reputation. He began his career at L'Oréal in 2003, first in charge of the Persian Gulf region, then the Americas. He then worked at France Télévisions (2006) and at the communications agency Idéepole (Bygmalion) as head of the digital, marketing and creation unit (2008-2013). (Twitter)

Filomena Chirico (Italian)

Files: Digital Services Act, platforms, collaborative economy, e-commerce and e-privacy

A graduate in law from Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome and Erasmus University in Rotterdam, with a doctorate in institutional economic studies, Filomena Chirico specializes in competition law. After teaching for several years, she joined the European Commission in 2008 in DG Competition as manager of the State aid file for telecommunications and digital companies. She then served as policy coordinator at the General Secretariat for the Internal Market (2015-2016) and as a cabinet member of Vice-President Jyrki Katainen (2016-2019). Before joining Th. Breton's office, she was head of unit at DG Research in program analysis and regulatory reform since April 2019.

She speaks Italian, English and French fluently.

Gaëlle Garnier (French)

Files: economic policy, industrial, social and environmental policy and European semester

Joining the European Commission in 2000 at DG Competition as file manager in the task force on business mergers, Gaëlle Garnier has a doctorate in economics from the Sorbonne. She was responsible for competition policy in the Lisbon process (2002-2007) then joined the service of the President of the Commission, José Barroso, in charge of Europe 2020 files and the European Semester (2007-2010). She was also coordinator of research and innovation policies at DG Research (2010-2011), then handled audiovisual and media policies at DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology (2011-2012). Head of sector, then deputy head of unit at DG Taxation (2012-2019), she left this position to join the team of Commissioner Th. Breton.

Agnieszka Skonieczna (Polish)

Files: audiovisual, copyright, geoblocking, creative industries, SMEs and start-ups

Economist, Agnieszka Skonieczna has worked since December 2017 at the DG Economic Affairs of the European Commission, specifically in the political opportunities of InvestEU, before being appointed cabinet member at Th. Breton. Previously, she was responsible for coordinating innovation strategies and then analyzing tax policies at DG Taxation (2008-2017). She also worked for a year in the private sector, as an analyst at Hewlett-Packard (2007-2008). Agnieszka Skonieczna graduated from the University of Economics in Poznan, Poland and from the Institute of Political Studies in Strasbourg.

She speaks Polish, English and French fluently.

Pauline Weinzierl (German)

Files: internal market for goods and services, digitalization of the internal market and Brexit

A specialist in the Union's trade policy, Pauline Weinzierl spent the majority of her career at the Commission, in DG Trade. After four years as an associate at APCO Worldwide, a public relations and communications company, she joined the DG Trade of the European Commission in October 2008. She is responsible in turn for negotiation and policy for trade in services and investments. (2008-2012), trade policies in the task force for Greece (2012-2014) and negotiation and policy analysis in the strategy unit (2015-2017). She has been deputy head of unit for digital commerce and services since the end of 2017 before joining Th. Breton's office.

A graduate in European Studies from King's College and Competition Law from LSE, she is fluent in German, English, French and Greek.

(CG, st., with NGV)

NB: Olivier Cuny, the former general secretary and executive vice-president of the Atos group, who had been announced as a cabinet member, will ultimately not be part of Thierry Breton's team.