PARIS — Emmanuel Macron on Thursday blamed leaders of rival political groups for the rejection of his European Commission nominee, Sylvie Goulard, and pointedly noted that she had been the personal choice of Ursula von der Leyen.

The European Parliament’s internal market and industry committees voted earlier in the day to reject Goulard, who faces allegations that she misused EU money in employing an assistant and has also been under fire over a highly-paid side-gig for a U.S. think tank while working as an MEP.

In an unusual exposure of the backroom dealings involved in naming commissioners, Macron revealed that it was the Commission president-designate, von der Leyen, who encouraged him to nominate Goulard. He also said von der Leyen had told him the leaders of the three biggest groups in the European Parliament assured her they would support the nominee.

“I suggested three names to President von der Leyen. President von der Leyen told me, ‘I want to work with Sylvie Goulard, I know her, I know what she’s worth, I was defense minister with her, she was a great MEP, she knows the issues very well,'” Macron told a press conference at the end of a meeting in Lyon to reconstitute the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

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He added that he had warned von der Leyen that some may raise controversies linked to Goulard. He said von der Leyen suggested calling the heads of the three main European Parliament groups — the center-right European People’s Party, the center-left Socialists & Democrats and the liberal-centrist Renew Europe, to which the French president’s own MEPs belong.

“She called me back and said they’re fine with Mrs. Goulard,” Macron said. “I don’t understand. When the president-designate of the Commission speaks to the three presidents of the groups, and there is agreement, it can’t change this way, so I need to understand. I will ask first.”

The leaders of the Socialists & Democrats and the European People’s Party swiftly and publicly denied that they had been consulted in advance by von der Leyen about Goulard’s nomination — meaning they had never given any assurances that she would be confirmed.

A spokesman for von der Leyen said he could neither confirm nor deny Macron’s account.

Macron said he “wasn’t at the stage” of suggesting an alternative candidate, and underlined that his priority is preserving the expansive portfolio France was given, spanning the EU’s internal market, the defense industry, space and some digital issues.

“I am very relaxed. What’s important is the portfolio but I need to understand what played out. Resentment? Pettiness? … So as long as I don’t understand, I can’t comment further,” Macron said.

This article has been updated.