Thierry Breton. Photo Source: Wikipedia page.
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Claim: X user @AfricanHub claims Thierry Breton, former European Commissioner for Internal Market, criticised French President Emmanuel Macron’s policy on Africa and described Africa as having “no history.”
Verdict: False! There is no credible evidence that Thierry Breton made such statements in any speech, interview, or official platform.
Text
A viral X post by @AfricanHub_ on May 7, 2025, claims that a former European Commissioner for Internal Market criticised French President Emmanuel Macron’s Africa policy and described Africa as having “no history.
“It was Emmanuel Macron’s stupidity that opened the eyes of Africans. If France loses its colonies, our children and grandchildren will go to Africa in search of their livelihoods. Macron needs to go, or France will suffer. Europe needs to unite to fight this new African vision from Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and other countries. If one of the putschists goes down, the others will abandon the vision. Africa has no history; therefore, Africa cannot run the world,” the X post read.
As of May 15, 2025, the post had garnered over 585,000 views, 4800 reposts, and about 8,745 favourites, triggering heated discussions.
Similar versions of the quote were posted by other X accounts like @AdameMedia on May 8, 2025, and circulated on WhatsApp groups like HYBRIDNEWSNG.
DUBAWA decided to verify this claim because it attributes a controversial statement to an EU official, which could influence public perception and diplomatic relations.
Verification
DUBAWA conducted keyword searches across credible news sources and Thierry Breton’s official communications channels. We did not find the quote on any verified news platforms in France, including Le Monde and France 24.
Searches on Breton’s official X account, Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton), using keywords like “Macron Africa” and specific phrases from the statement, such as “Africa has no history,” also yielded no results linking him to the alleged quote.
Additionally, an analysis of Thierry Breton’s portfolio during his tenure as European Commissioner (2019–2024) shows he focused on internal EU matters like digital regulation and industry, not foreign policy. No public records link him to criticisms of Macron’s Africa agenda.
According to his official European Commission page, his activities included regulatory matters like AI and digital services.
Interviews and articles from the period he held the position, such as those in Le Monde, discuss internal market issues, not foreign policy.
As outlined in speeches like his February 2023 address, Macron’s Africa policy emphasises partnership and economic collaboration. Breton is mentioned as a participant in EU-Africa forums, not as a critic.
Breton resigned from the European Commission on Sept. 16, 2024, citing internal governance concerns. However, his exit statement did not mention Africa or Macron. News articles from The New York Times, The Guardian, and Euractiv detailed his resignation, noting that he accused von der Leyen of pressuring France to nominate another candidate.
Africa Check reported in December 2023 that it had traced a similar quote to a French Malian Facebook page with 142,000 followers. The page describes itself as sharing musical content or news about the Malian rapper TAL-B Halala and Djagueleya Music.
“The few websites that have written about Breton’s supposed comments are not reliable news sources and appear to have copied the claims from social media. The Zambian Observer article, for example, simply repeats the message posted on social media, along with a screenshot of a French Facebook post,” the independent fact-checking organisation observed.
Context and possible motivation
The emergence of this false quote coincides with rising anti-French sentiments in parts of Francophone West Africa, particularly Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, where military regimes have recently severed ties with France.
The misattributed statement appears crafted to inflame existing geopolitical tensions and validate narratives critical of French policy in Africa.
Despite lacking credible attribution, the quote was widely shared and discussed, illustrating how misinformation can rapidly gain traction, especially on emotionally charged subjects like neo-colonialism and international diplomacy.
Conclusion
The claim circulating online alleging that a former European Union Commissioner, Thierry Breton, criticised French President Emmanuel Macron’s Africa policy is false.
Reads like a script written by France’s State Department, and conspicuously absent is any denial from Breton!! Word searches are not sufficient. Ask Breton if he said it! This lack of due diligence and the fact that your ‘fact check’ parroted AfricaCheck underscores why people don’t trust Fact Checkers!