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In addition to the future of Brexit, the European summit that opens on Thursday will also be an opportunity to discuss the consequences of the rejection of Sylvie Goulard to the European Commission. Since this snub, Emmanuel Macron has multiplied consultations. Weakened, the French president wants to try to regain control.
In the entourage of Emmanuel Macron, it is readily admitted: what is played at this summit is the influence of France, and therefore of its president, in Europe.
The head of state does not fester since the rejection of his candidate Sylvie Goulard and returns each to his responsibilities. In his viewfinder: the European right of the EPP, accused of having wanted to take revenge on a president who had blocked in June the accession of its leader at the head of the European Commission.
► To read also: Sylvie Goulard recalée: "An institutional crisis in the short and medium term"
The Élysée wishes a " moment of clarification ". That is to say that the European right comes into the rank, which will not be easy.
Ensure a stable majority before introducing a new candidate
To put the pressure, Emmanuel Macron refuses in the immediate future to advance a name to replace Sylvie Goulard. He wants to ensure a majority and avoid another disappointment. But it is also true that he has great difficulty in finding someone competent to lead the mega-portfolio reserved for France in the new Commission.
The Head of State will multiply consultations with his counterparts, but also, as of Thursday afternoon, with its partners of the new centrist group in Parliament Renew Europe. It will be a summit where the essential will not be played around the table of 28 but as often in the corridors.