Clik here to view.
Why Martin Selmayr had to go
The departure of Martin Selmayr from the position of secretary-general of the European Commission overflows with poetic justice. With the inevitability of a Wagnerian opera (but a quicker endgame),...
View ArticleMartin Selmayr: ‘Monster of the Berlaymont’ or committed European?
Brussels’ most powerful and controversial civil servant has just days left in office. In a bid to help German conservative Ursula von der Leyen get elected as European Commission president and calm...
View ArticleWanted: New job for Martin Selmayr
Martin Selmayr, who is leaving the post of European Commission secretary-general, has wasted no time in launching his search for a new job. POLITICO has obtained this letter of recommendation written...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Don’t underestimate Ursula
She was elected Commission president with a wafer-thin majority — the lowest margin in the office’s history. She’s in political trouble back home, where the German parliament is investigating...
View ArticleMartin Selmayr’s new job: The EU’s man in Vienna
Vienna, brace for impact. Martin Selmayr, the outgoing European Commission secretary-general, will become the Commission’s representative to Austria later this year. The College of Commissioners...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ursula von der Leyen struggles to stay in the saddle
Ursula von der Leyen loves horses, but political horse-trading or show-jumping? Not so much. Since her confirmation by a narrow vote in the European Parliament in July, the European Commission’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Meet the most powerful woman in Washington not named Nancy
WASHINGTON — Get used to pronouncing Kristalina Georgieva’s name (it’s Gor-ghee-ava). She’s the most powerful woman in Washington not named Nancy. Her new job atop the International Monetary Fund — the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Brussels stuck in the doldrums
November 1 was meant to be a new dawn for the EU. A fresh European Commission would take office and Britain would finally be out of the club. Instead, a fog of uncertainty hangs over Brussels. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The political proxy war driving the race for EU citizens’ champion
To supporters, she is a steadfast defender of EU citizens’ interests. To critics, she is a political meddler who has gotten too big for her boots. With MEP opinions divided on Emily O’Reilly’s record...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Honorable friends: Awards for Europe’s politicians
As you may have heard once or twice, Britain is leaving the EU but it’s not leaving Europe. And what better way to celebrate the surprise news that the U.K. is not physically moving to another part of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Michel Barnier’s new right hand
Her supporters say she won’t blink first in the Brexit talks, but Michel Barnier’s new deputy will need guile and nerve to hold the EU line against a rejuvenated U.K. Clara Martínez Alberola takes up...
View ArticleIlze Juhansone to be European Commission’s top civil servant
Ilze Juhansone is set to become the European Commission’s secretary-general. According to two Commission officials, the College of Commissioners will appoint her at its meeting in Strasbourg on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Don’t cry for Commission’s HR chief
Tim King writes POLITICO‘s Brussels Sketch. It would be an extraordinary achievement if Irène Souka, who in her 11 years as head of the European Commission’s human resources department built a...
View ArticleEU Confidential #141: Europe’s coronavirus response — Carnival &...
Listen to the podcast on Spotify | Apple | Google | Acast | Stitcher This episode of EU Confidential explores how Europe is responding to the coronavirus, with POLITICO’s senior health reporter, Sarah...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ursula von der Leyen’s disaster management
On paper, Ursula von der Leyen could not be better cast for this moment in EU history: Brussels-born; trilingual in German, French and English; a three-time Cabinet minister; the first ever female...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Merkel’s Dr. No gets his toughest mission yet
This article is part of a special report: Berlin in Brussels. Europe’s most powerful bureaucrat works from a sparsely furnished mid-sized office on the second floor of a building overlooking a train...
View ArticleFacebook’s top EU lobbyist sends Brussels a friend request
To get her way in Brussels, Facebook’s EU lobbyist-in-chief Aura Salla uses one of the tools she’s been hired to promote: Instagram. Between stills of Helsinki’s waterfront and self-portraits on a...
View ArticleMeet Richard Szostak: The EU’s new Brexit divorce mediator
LONDON — Richard Szostak has been handed a task that some would consider impossible: Breaking the EU-U.K. logjam over its divorce agreement as tempers flare over the pandemic. As the head of a new EU...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The French people Europe needs to know
French diplomats, civil servants and policymakers will play a key role in delivering set priorities for the country’s presidency of the Council of the EU, which started on January 1. Here are some of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
European Parliament plots backroom deal to appoint top bureaucrat
In an interwoven series of backroom deals, three of the European Parliament’s political groups are pushing through a power-sharing arrangement that has left opponents accusing the Parliament’s...
View Article