Macron picked a controversial nomination for the European Commission back in 2019: Thierry Breton, CEO of Atos. It was the first time a CEO was chosen to join the College of Commissioners. There was a striking and massive overlap between the interests of the company Breton headed and the remit of the Internal Market portfolio Macron has negotiated for him, including industrial policy, defence, tech and space. Atos was an active EU player. The company is a multinational actor which specialises in information technology services, and operates in a wide field of sectors – from cybersecurity, consulting, telecommunications and financial services to healthcare, but also aerospace and defence elec