EU eyes a Washington reset
GOOD MORNING. This is Sebastian Starcevic, capping off a monumental week in transatlantic politics with a €1 hotdog at KFK Hope bar in Brussels. Run, don’t walk.
START HERE: EU leaders will discuss who should speak for Europe in Ukraine peace talks at next week’s summit in Dublin, European Council President António Costa said in a letter to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni last night.
Meloni had told Costa yesterday that the various formats for Ukraine talks are making Europe seem “all over the place” and insisted the issue could “no longer be postponed.” Costa responded that he would “make time for this discussion” at the upcoming leaders’ summit, adding that the EU’s interests “need to be represented by its institutions.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told Playbook’s Nick Vinocur yesterday that he agrees with Meloni’s assessment, adding: “We need to have a legitimate representation of Europe in the process because we pay for this war.”
— Europe’s plan to win over a new generation of allies in the U.S. Congress.
— The European Commission’s €300 million rent bill.
On this week’s Brussels Playbook Week Ender: Volatility is the new normal after the U.S. midterms and recent elections around Europe. Sarah discusses lessons for leaders on both sides of the Atlantic with Carrie, Jamie and Die Welt’s Gregor Schwung.
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A TALE OF TWO HOUSES: EU lawmakers and officials in Brussels are hoping to turn the Democrats’ midterm wins into a diplomatic opening with Washington, laying the groundwork for cooperation on everything from Russian sanctions to artificial intelligence and a transatlantic forum.
A fresh start: The “blue tsunami” earlier this week gave Democrats control of Congress, bringing a wave of new faces to Washington. Due to retirements, deaths and campaigns for other offices, at least 99 incoming members of Congress are newcomers — a record, according to NPR.
Out of the freezer: The chair of the European Parliament’s U.S. delegation, Brando Benifei said there’s “a lot of space with this new Congress to upgrade our level of cooperation,” telling me EU lawmakers could “push through projects that were frozen before.”
Top of the wish list: The implementation of Russian sanctions, U.S. intel sharing and PURL weapons is how a European diplomat posted to Washington listed the priorities to my colleague Daniella Cheslow. The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas urged the new Congress to put “more pressure” on Moscow. “Let’s see what happens now,” she mused.
Another big target is … the Transatlantic Legislators’ Dialogue, an inter-parliamentary exchange between MEPs and members of Congress. Benifei said “institutionalizing” the group is now back on the table, while a senior EU official said Brussels was planning to gauge interest on Capitol Hill for a beefed-up version of the forum. The official was granted anonymity, like others, to discuss the internal plans.
Planting seeds: “The fact that we have now such a new Congress provides some diplomatic opportunities for the EU delegation in Washington and the European embassies there,” a second EU diplomat said. Laying the diplomatic groundwork now will bear fruit in six months, a year — or longer, the diplomat argued.
There is cautious optimism in Brussels that a Democratic-controlled Congress could prove a more receptive partner. “The relationship with Congress under Speaker Mike Johnson was not bad, but there were tensions,” the official said, adding the EU would wait to see how much things change once Hakeem Jeffries is sworn in as speaker in January.
Other targets: There will be “new opportunities” to work together on AI legislation, Benifei predicted, singling out the House Committee on Ways and Means, which has trade jurisdiction, as an important partner to help blunt Trump’s tariff threats. (A Democrat will take the reins of the committee from a Republican in 2027.)
Quick reality check: European officials are under no illusion that a Democratic Congress will automatically mean a return to the Joe Biden-era transatlantic relationship. A second senior EU official said they expect the Democrats to have their hands full with domestic politics.
But the midterms could open channels for cooperation in specific areas that have been closed off for years. And for Brussels, even an incremental thaw in relations is welcome after two years in Trump’s freezer.
TRUMP MEETS RUSSIAN ENVOY: Donald Trump met Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev privately in Washington yesterday, the U.S. president told reporters last night, adding that Russia’s war with Ukraine is close to being settled in a deal that “might involve all of Europe.” Reuters has a write-up.
EXCLUSIVE — BUDGET SWEETENER: European Council President António Costa suggested limiting a controversial business tax to companies with a turnover exceeding an annual €750 million, two EU diplomats briefed on the discussions told Gregorio Sorgi.
MADRID GOES MAGA: With Hungary’s Viktor Orbán gone, Spain’s nationalist Vox party is set to play an increasingly central role in the far-right global ecosystem.
WTF MFF: Europe’s key policy files, including its push to accelerate AI chip production and strengthen its Arctic presence, are caught in the logjam of Brussels’ seven-year budget standoff.
DIPLOMATIC HOMEWORK: Ambassadors from countries bordering France had lunch with far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen at the German ambassador’s Paris residence on Wednesday, three officials told Giorgio Leali and Sarah Paillou, with the EU dominating the discussion.
THE EPP’S TWO BLACK SHEEP: Since parting ways with Viktor Orbán, the European People’s Party has tolerated two of its more troublesome national figures. Now, the EPP is weighing up whether to kick out the party of Serbia’s Aleksandar Vučić, while appearing to turn a blind eye to the friendly fire of Slovenia’s Janez Janša.
Vučić in the balance: The EPP is set to decide at its Dec. 7–8 Political Assembly whether to take a tougher line on Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), after launching a scrutiny process in September 2025 into whether the party still respects the political family’s fundamental values, Max Griera and Nektaria Stamouli report.
“Things are not looking good for SNS,” said a senior EPP official. “They had promised to fix certain things and there was a timeline for actions and commitments, but they were not met.” The official was granted anonymity to discuss internal group deliberations.
The choice ahead: Some EPP members argue Serbia shouldn’t be isolated and SNS should remain in the fold, albeit under closer scrutiny. Another senior EPP insider said there were now two options: impose conditions under which the SNS can remain in the EPP, or kick the party out. An EPP spokesperson said the process is “ongoing.”
Looking the other way: Recent barbs from the Slovenian prime minister have been met with a more muted response. On Saturday, Janša took to social media to accuse fellow EPP national leaders Donald Tusk and Péter Magyar of rule-of-law abuses, drawing praise from senior figures in the far-right Patriots for Europe.
Little reaction: “No one has noticed much,” said one lawmaker. Polish EPP Vice-Chair Andrzej Halicki told POLITICO he found Janša’s comments “strange,” saying they showed a “lack of information.” EPP chief Manfred Weber declined to comment.
Words and deeds: The EPP has shown a high tolerance for outbursts, so long as members vote in line with the party and avoid causing problems in the European Council, with ongoing support of Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission part of the deal. It took the EPP years to part ways with Orbán.
A reliable ally: Janša “is tough in words, but in the end, he does cooperate,” said a senior EPP insider. A Slovenian EPP vice-chair, MEP Romana Tomc, is also widely liked in Brussels. “She’s fun,” said another EPP lawmaker.
Next week is the latest United Nations Climate Change Conference in Antalya, Turkey. COP31 (it stands for Conference of the Parties) runs from Nov. 9-20. But what will the negotiators be trying to achieve? Among the issues up for discussion are the transition to cleaner economies, climate finance and cutting emissions. That all comes after a summer in which Europe suffered from savage heatwaves and droughts.
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COMMISSION TO PAY €300 MILLION TO STAY PUT: The Commission is set to pay over €300 million in fees for not moving out of seven buildings that it sold in 2024. Part of that money gets added to the bloc’s annual budget, worth almost €200 billion, which is expected to be signed off on Tuesday by the European Parliament and national governments.
The Commission sold 23 buildings in the affluent Schuman neighborhood for €900 million in 2024, to cut costs and reduce office space, as more staff worked from home. This coincided with a controversial plan to relocate hundreds of Eurocrats to the cheaper Northern Quarter.
But some of these savings have been offset by €255 million in fees the Commission paid to extend its stay in seven of the sold buildings, including the Madou Plaza Tower, which hosts DG COMP. The EU executive is also on the hook to pay the rest of the money — €24.6 million in 2027 and €25.6 million in 2028 — to prolong its stay, according to a Commission spokesperson.
On the attack: The head of the Renouveau & Démocratie trade union representing EU staffers, Cristiano Sebastiani, slammed the Commission’s strategy and asked for clarification as to whether “these payments would enable the purchaser to recover the purchase price within only a few years.”
But the EU executive pushed back. A Commission spokesperson told Gregorio Sorgi that prolonging its stay in some buildings allowed “margin to negotiate new rental contracts” and to “pursue its long-term building policy adequately and on cost-effective grounds.”
Germany is under pressure from the U.S. to pay more for new medicines, with talks expected in Berlin in coming days, trade colleagues Camille Gijs and Caroline Hug report. Berlin has been mulling proposals to avoid tariffs as it awaits the results of an investigation by the Trump administration, which argues that U.S. citizens are subsidizing medical research for countries in Europe through higher drug prices.
The results of a POLITICO Poll suggest respondents would be open to paying more, in return for faster access to new medicines. When asked to choose between price and access, a majority of respondents in Spain, Germany and France, as well as the U.K. and Canada, favored higher prices.
ESTONIA’S WARNING: Europe shouldn’t open up a diplomatic channel to “dictator” Vladimir Putin, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kristen Michal said.
ACCESS DENIED: Washington has scuttled a French push for the G7 to coordinate on advanced AI safety, with a White House official calling it “unnecessary bureaucracy.”
DAS IST NICHT SO GUT: Germany’s defense ministry has privately warned that moving too quickly to reduce the country’s dependence on American weapons could jeopardize relations with Washington, according to internal briefing materials obtained by POLITICO.
BLAME LIZ: The Republican Party’s midterm disaster, the cost-of-living crisis, the war in Iran, Trump’s election strategy of complimenting people’s buttocks … The Declassified column wonders whether former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss is the common thread.
NEW GERMAN IN TOWN: Berlin’s new Coreper I ambassador, Iris Wehrmann, has arrived in Brussels to take up her post. She takes over from Helen Winter, who’s heading home for a new role with Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Meanwhile, at the Polish perm rep … Ignacy Niemczycki’s name is in the frame for the post of Poland’s ambassador to the EU — the deputy foreign minister acknowledged as much in a chat with journalists in Warsaw. “But no decisions have been taken,” he said. “I’m actually very fond of my current job.” The spot opened up after the current ambassador, Agnieszka Bartol, was named minister for EU funds and regional policy.
THE SINGLE MARKET: After my colleague Gerardo Fortuna’s mention yesterday of an IRL anti-Tinder, it made us think of all of the weird (and wonderful?) dating concepts that have sprung up in recent years in Brussels. Some standouts:
Timeleft: A dining app that matches you with five strangers based on a personality algorithm for a blind dinner at a mystery local restaurant. Not technically a dating app but certainly used as one, in our experience.
The Love Doctor: A new Instagram page that allows participants to fill out a questionnaire citing their green flags, red flags and guilty pleasures. The people behind the page then decide who might be a good fit for each other.
The Nine’s Bridgerton-inspired Masquerade Ball … for when you’re looking for love and want to get some wear out of your regency-era gown (next one coming up next week, BTW).
Thursday Events: If Plux were an app. It connects single people for events in cities across the world (including Brussels). The catch: You can only swipe on Thursdays.
WHO’S INFLUENCING WHOM? “Sous Influence,” a new exhibition in Brussels by VITRINE, opens today, bringing together 10 artists to explore the forces shaping who we are. Expect paintings, photography, sculptures, textiles and immersive installations across a 1,000-square meter townhouse on Avenue Louise, open until Dec. 13. €10 entry. Get tix here.
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Berlin: Friedrich Merz will announce who he intends to nominate for the German presidency by the end of the weekend, with Ilse Aigner still the likely candidate.
Paris: Bruno Retailleau’s team has a plan to force Edouard Philippe to join a center-right presidential primary — but Philippe’s camp remains adamant it won’t happen.
Madrid: The Urda rail tragedy has Spain’s parties scrambling to enlist technocrats, sensing the electorate has had enough of political pyrotechnics.
London: Andy Burnham is promoting a “quick fix” forcing employers to publish salary information in job ads, as Westminster awaits the prime minister’s 10-year plan.
Read more from our Playbook family: Washington … Ottawa … Canberra.
— Coreper I and Coreper II meet in Brussels at 9 a.m.
— The 30th Accession Conference with Montenegro takes place in Brussels, with the provisional closure of negotiations on the free movement of goods on the agenda. Press conference with Montenegro Prime Minister Milojko Spajić and Irish European Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne at 2:45 p.m. (watch live).
— High Representative Kaja Kallas is in Warsaw for the E5 Foreign Affairs Ministerial meeting at 3:30 p.m. (watch live).
— European Parliament President Roberta Metsola meets Marshal of the Polish Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty at 9 a.m.; addresses the Sejm at 10 a.m. (watch live); meets Marshal of the Polish Senate Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska at 10:25 a.m. and receives the Jan Karski Award on behalf of the European Parliament, followed by a speech, at 11:30 a.m.
— Defense and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius takes part in a high-level discussion on Europe’s security landscape in Stockholm at 8:25 a.m. (watch live), visits the Esrange Space Center and holds a roundtable with the Swedish space industry.
— Democracy Commissioner Michael McGrath at the EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Forum on Justice and Home Affairs in Budva, Montenegro, at 1 p.m. (watch live).
— International Partnerships Commissioner Jozef Síkela takes part in the signing ceremony marking the EU program’s contribution to Ukraine’s reconstruction with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys.
— Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera delivers a speech at the Premio Forum Europa for the Ibero-American General Secretariat, chaired by King Felipe VI of Spain, in Madrid.
— Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos meets Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar and National Assembly President Zoran Stevanović and speaks to the Assembly’s committees on EU affairs and foreign policy in Ljubljana.
— Executive Vice President Raffaele Fitto visits the Collège 900 project and participates in the 30th Conference of Presidents of the Outermost Regions in Guadeloupe and meets Antoine Poussier, prefect of French Guiana.
— Financial Services Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque receives Managed Funds Association President and CEO Bryan Corbett and Austrian Central Bank Governor Martin Kocher.
— Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič meets Slovak Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenický in Bratislava.
— Startups Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva receives European Research Council President Maria Leptin and representatives of the automotive industry in Brussels.
— Press conference of Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner on the second Annual Migration Management Cycle, at 11:15 a.m. in Brussels (watch live).
**Join us live today at 10:25am for POLITICO’s panel at the Concordia Summit, where leading voices discuss Romania’s competitiveness, investment appeal and strategic direction. Register now to follow the conversation online.**
Former European Commissioner Janez Lenarčič; MEPs Nadine Morano and Michael Bloss; Chess Woman Grandmaster Dana Reizniece, Latvia’s former finance minister and POLITICO 28 alum; Rud Pedersen’s Alexandria Hicks; Alice Tidey from Rapporteur; Bellona Europa’s Jonas Helseth; Laura Flessel-Colovic, former French sports minister and five-time Olympic medalist.
Celebrating Saturday: MEPs Maria Grapini and Sérgio Humberto; former MEPs Derk Jan Eppink and John Procter; Bristol Myers Squibb’s Dimitri Pouradier Duteil; Austrian Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel; DigitalEurope’s Agathe Legris; POLITICO’s Max Griera.
Celebrating Sunday: MEPs Gerolf Annemans, René Repasi and Sven Mikser; former MEP Javier Couso Permuy; Defend Democracy’s Alice Stollmeyer; Tax Analysts’ Elodie Lamer.
Playbook is brought to you by POLITICO’s EU Politics team: Gerardo Fortuna, Nicholas Vinocur, Gabriel Gavin, Zoya Sheftalovich, Max Griera, Mari Eccles, Hanne Cokelaere, Lucia Mackenzie, Gregorio Sorgi and Sebastian Starcevic. And: reporters Milena Wälde and Daria Zakharova, editors Alex Spence and James Panichi, and producers Dean Southwell and Hugh Kapernaros.
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