Manfred Weber’s trusted circle shrinks as chief of staff resigns

STRASBOURG — The right-hand man of European People’s Party leader Manfred Weber, Tom Vandenkendelaere, resigned Wednesday to take a private-sector job in Belgium, he told POLITICO. Vandenkendelaere will leave EPP headquarters at the end of May with no successor yet lined up, leaving vacant the powerful chief of staff job — which involves overseeing the party’s day-to-day operations. He quit in order to spend more time with his family, according to two people with knowledge of the decision who we

The EPP is both a pan-European political party, which is where Vandenkendelaere worked, and a group in the European Parliament. The departure leaves Weber with an even smaller circle of trusted advisers. At the start of the year his chief strategist and longtime right-hand man in the Parliament, Udo Zolleis, left his post to join the Parliament’s administration as director for academia and foresight. The move left Ouarda Bensouag as Weber’s top adviser, juggling her role as his head of cabinet with serving as the group’s secretary-general, a role she has held since 2024. Vandenkendelaere served as a Belgian MEP between 2014 and 2024 and was controversially appointed chief of staff by Weber in September 2024. The idea behind the latter move was to shift day-to-day operational responsibilities — such as finances and human resources — from the secretary-general (at the time Thanasis Bakolas, who had challenged Weber’s authority) to the chief of staff, centralizing power under the president while freeing up the secretary-general to focus more on politics.

Key points

• The EPP is both a pan-European political party, which is where Vandenkendelaere worked, and a group in the European Parliament.
• The departure leaves Weber with an even smaller circle of trusted advisers.
• At the start of the year his chief strategist and longtime right-hand man in the Parliament, Udo Zolleis, left his post to join the Parliament’s administration as director for academia and foresight.
• The move left Ouarda Bensouag as Weber’s top adviser, juggling her role as his head of cabinet with serving as the group’s secretary-general, a role she has held since 2024.
• Vandenkendelaere served as a Belgian MEP between 2014 and 2024 and was controversially appointed chief of staff by Weber in September 2024.