Paris (AFP)

Two years after a brief stint in the government, Sylvie Goulard was chosen Wednesday by Emmanuel Macron to sit on the European Commission, a consecration for this EU specialist with recognized skills, but still linked to a legal case in progress.

This former 54-year-old MEP is "a convinced European" whose "experience and expertise are recognized both in Europe and France," said the Elysee.

In "a crucial moment for Europe", Sylvie Goulard "has the capacity to play a major role in the next Commission", which will come into action on November 1st in Brussels under the presidency of the German Ursula Von der Leyen , added the presidency.

Emmanuel Macron indeed has a strong ambition to "rebuild" in the coming years the European Union, a goal hitherto held back by negotiations on Brexit and political problems in several countries, including Germany and Italy .

The portfolio that will occupy Sylvie Goulard is not yet determined, Ursula Von der Leyen having started this week the interviews with candidates proposed by the 27 capitals. Paris has shown a preference for a portfolio focused on the economy, trade or the environment.

- In Brussels and Strasbourg -

Born December 6, 1964 in Marseille in a family of Italian origin who spoke French at home, Sylvie Goulard, brunette with short hair, passes to know perfectly the European arcana.

This enarque began his career in 1989 at the Quai d'Orsay, in the team responsible for the reunification of Germany.

She then joined Brussels, first as political advisor to the President of the European Commission, the Italian Romano Prodi, between 2001 and 2004, and then sits in the European Parliament from 2009 to 2017, elected on the MoDem list.

Excellent Germanist, also fluent in English and Italian, Ms. Goulard Emmanuel Macron benefited from its networks during the 2017 presidential campaign.

She was then appointed Minister of the Armed Forces in the first government of Édouard Philippe, in May 2017. She is forced to resign from the government in the case of the hypothetical fictitious jobs of assistants of MEPs MoDem - a party that she left, at the same time as François Bayrou and Marielle de Sarnez.

"I wish to be able to freely demonstrate my good faith," she explained. This case has since given rise to the opening of a judicial inquiry. Ms. Goulard has not been convened so far.

"Big embarrassment! What prevents it from being a minister in France is negligible at the European level!" Responded the ecologist Yannick Jadot in a tweet.

Her position as "special adviser" for an American think tank, for a remuneration of more than 10,000 euros per month, while she was MEP, had also sparked controversy.

- "Sliced ​​positions" -

After her resignation, Sylvie Goulard was appointed in January 2018 to the management of the Banque de France, as Deputy Governor.

The friends, like her enemies, of this mother of three, praise her skills and her well-supplied European address book.

In the European Parliament, she was one of the most prominent members of the liberal group ALDE, the predecessor of the "Renaissance" group dominated today by MEPs from La République en marche.

But in Strasbourg, Mrs. Goulard did not make only friends. "It shows sharp and individual positions, which sometimes cringe," said a source in Parliament in 2017.

His attempt - ultimately unsuccessful - to run in 2016 for the presidency of the Chamber against the boss of the centrist group Guy Verhofstadt, while stressing the need for a female candidacy for this key position, has notably illustrated its character deemed impetuous - even "authoritarian" and sometimes even "brittle", according to critics - while she likes to repeat that it is not "a potiche".

This former teacher at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium), an ultraselective matrix of the senior civil service of Europe, is also close to former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, with whom she co-authored a book advocating in particular for the renaissance of a political Europe.

© 2019 AFP