PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron nominated Thierry Breton as his candidate for European commissioner, according to an Elysée official.

The president made the nomination “in full agreement with [European Commission President-elect] Ursula von der Leyen,” and he will be assigned the “same portfolio” as Macron’s first candidate, Sylvie Goulard, the Elysée official added.

Macron has been adamant about preserving the immense portfolio he negotiated for the French commissioner, spanning the internal market, defense and digital issues, since the European Parliament rejected Goulard in confirmation hearings at the beginning of October.

“I am very honored by the trust that President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen have put in me,” Breton said in a written statement. “I fully realize the importance of what’s at stake with this portfolio for Europe and European citizens.” He added that he was “already focused on preparing hearings in the European Parliament” and that “appropriate arrangements for [his] succession have been made.”

Breton has both high-level political experience — having been France’s minister of the economy, finance and industry from 2005 to 2007 under Jacques Chirac — and a long career in the private sector, lately leading one of the country’s rare digital champions, Atos.

“Thierry Breton has strong experience in areas covered by this portfolio, specifically industry and digital, because he was a finance minister in charge of industrial policy. He was also a CEO of several companies in the industrial and telecom sector and has a strong reputation as a man of action,” an Elysée official told AFP.

Breton was an early backer of Macron’s candidacy during the 2017 French presidential election, and was a member of the official delegation that accompanied the president on his state visit to Washington in April 2018.

Macron’s pick is not universally popular, though. “It is incomprehensible and a risky choice for Macron,” said a French high official with knowledge of EU issues. “Breton is brilliant, very smart, and has a lot of ideas but he is man of utmost arrogance, and that ego has harmed him a lot in his career.” The official also said he was “ignorant of European issues.”

And the former minister is widely seen as an old-school, right-wing politician, who first came to politics through Chirac’s RPR party, and its successor the UMP — the forerunners of today’s main French conservative party, Les Républicains. His business career is also likely to come under close scrutiny during the confirmation process in the European Parliament.

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“With Thierry Breton new questions of conflict of interest arise. He is the shareholder of a company that gets European subsidies and that could lead to cutting down his portfolio,” French Green MEP Yannick Jadot said on French TV.

Others backed Breton’s nomination. “I don’t share his opinions but Thierry Breton has the skills and qualities for the European commissioner position,” former Prime Minister and Socialist Bernard Cazeneuve said on France’s Radio Classique.

Atos was part of a EU-funded project to boost European capacity in high-performance computing. One of the company’s sites in the French city of Angers received €1.2 million from the European Regional Development Fund, according to a recent press release.

Breton’s company, Atos, is listed in the EU’s transparency register, with “Digital Economy” and “Trans-European Networks” listed among key topics of interest for its lobbying activities. The page says there was “no funding received from the EU institutions during the last closed financial year [2018].” The company did not respond to a request for comment on this point by time of publication.

A Commission official said Breton had a “good profile” but added his nomination meant “gender parity shelved and a risky confirmation hearing.”

Maïa de La Baume contributed reporting.