By LAURA GREENHALGH
Dear readers,
Wishing you a very happy September 2! Today, I have the pleasure of writing to you on a special day for me to celebrate the best reads from another week in POLITICO land.
It’s back-to-school season in Brussels and some schools reopened their doors on the first of the month under truly apocalyptic conditions. Hopefully, Friday’s heavy rains don’t represent an omen for the new season ahead. It certainly didn’t help the feeling that Brussels is one big traffic-ridden construction site right now.
As the institutions and journalists return from a summer elsewhere, my excellent colleague Eddy Wax — our resident European Parliament reporter — had a sharp-witted observation on the summer renovations undertaken at the European Parliament.
For avid Parliament watchers, get your popcorn ready for Tuesday. It’s the first would-be commissioner hearing in a while, for Bulgarian nominee Iliana Ivanova, who is up for the research and innovation portfolio. One of the hot topics likely to come up is whether the EU can afford to invest more in supporting science and innovation — a big political fight due to its potential impact on both farm funds and money for newer EU countries (not to mention the Brexit dimension!).
In true POLITICO fashion, we’ll be live blogging the proceedings. Plus, for those of you physically back in Brussels, keep an eye out for our inaugural Brussels guide on Thursday that will run both online and in the paper edition! Commissioned by our Declassified author Paul Dallison, we promise it will tell you everything you always wanted to know (and some things you probably didn’t) about living in the EU capital.
The theme for the highlights list is scoops. What stood out this week is the quantity of exclusive reporting our newsroom delivered across topics from energy subsidies and cryptocurrencies to Beyonc? and Ryan Reynolds. I promise you’ll want to read every word!
With that, I’m off to celebrate this special day (my birthday). Wishing you a wonderful weekend and week ahead,
Laura
**Join us on September 18, as we delve into the pressing question: “is Europe losing the hydrogen race?” at POLITICO Live event. We will explore the challenges and opportunities with Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, and MEP Jutta Paulus (Greens, Germany) among others experts. Save your seat today!**
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Ryan Reynolds has transformed Wrexham. Who will save Britain’s other struggling towns?
This is a fabulously colorful read from Wales, shining a light on Britain’s struggling towns and what can be done to regenerate them. The story sits at POLITICO’s prime intersection of politics, policy, power and entertainment — diving into the political learnings from the tale of a Hollywood superstar saving local football team Wrexham AFC. Read the story.
Europe’s ‘template’ for migration: Tunisian strongman’s racist clampdown
Stellar on-the-ground reportage from Tunisia to explain how the EU is making a deal with the devil to prevent migrant flows, channeling funds to a leader pursuing a brutal policy of racism toward sub-Saharan migrants. Read the story.
UK parliament calls Taiwan ‘independent country’ as Cleverly visits China
POLITICO broke the news of a potentially major shift in the U.K.’s position toward China: The British parliament has for the first time referred to Taiwan as an “independent country” in an official document. Coming at a time when tensions over the self-governing island are growing, the move is likely to heighten tensions with Beijing. Read the story.
‘It’s a fucking trap!’ The Great Euro Conspiracy Theory
A fascinating deep-dive into the reasons why the digital euro is becoming a lightning rod for people who are worried about the surveillance state. Our interviews with psychologists and politicians at the extreme end of the debate transformed a wonky policy issue into a gripping news feature. Read the story.
Ukraine cries foul as fuels refined from Russian oil pour into the EU
This story drove a news agenda on the back of a big trend in markets, snatching exclusive comment from a Ukrainian official who protested that Europe was awash with diesel refined from Russian crude oil. Read the story.
Brussels showdown brews with Paris and Berlin over lavish energy subsidies
Brilliant teamwork delivered a punchy exclusive on how the EU is pressing France and Germany to rein in their subsidy bonanza to energy-hungry industry, much to the chagrin of Paris and Berlin. Read the story.
EU warns of financial risks from Andorra, Monaco and San Marino
Lovely scoop that the EU is worried attempts to forge a closer bond with microstates could actually pose a significant risk to the financial system. Read the story.
French data watchdog probes Worldcoin’s Paris hub
We were first with the news that France’s data regulator CNIL had swooped on Worldcoin offices in Paris unannounced on Wednesday to quiz a top executive, amid growing scrutiny over the cryptocurrency project’s privacy practices. Read the story.
**POLITICO Power Play, our brand-new global podcast, brings you insightful conversations with global power players, hosted by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Don’t miss an episode of our season in September by subscribing for alerts in one click.**
YOUR WEEKEND PLAYLIST
EU Confidential: Austrian Foreign Minister Schallenberg: EU needs to rethink its enlargement approach
EU Confidential returns from its summer break, bringing you this episode from the European Forum Alpbach in Austria where the theme of a “bold Europe” has prompted discussions about Europe’s internal as well as geopolitical challenges. Host Suzanne Lynch sits down with Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg to discuss his suggestion that the EU needs to rethink how it expands its membership to countries like Ukraine, Moldova and hopefuls in the Western Balkans.
Then, Suzanne gathers together an all-star panel on the sidelines of the forum to discuss whether Europe’s approach to the so-called Global South has been misguided. She’s joined by: Mar?a Fernanda Espinosa Garc?s, an Ecuadorian diplomat, scientist, politician and former president of the United Nations General Assembly; Arancha Gonz?lez Laya, Spain’s former foreign minister and now dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po; and Oby Ezekwesili, former minister for education and minister of mineral resources of Nigeria, and senior economic adviser of the Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative. Listen to the episode.
Westminster Insider: Back to school briefing — a whirlwind guide to UK politics this autumn
As MPs return to parliament after the summer break, host Ailbhe Rea and an array of expert guests provide an essential briefing on everything that’s coming up in British politics over the next few months. The Spectator’s political editor Katy Balls takes Ailbhe through Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s “not-a-reset” leadership reset. Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank provides a debrief on the U.K.’s economic situation, while the Times’ Scottish political editor Kieran Andrews has everything you need to know about the upcoming Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election. BBC Northern Ireland’s Jayne McCormack ponders whether Stormont might finally get up and running again this autumn, while POLITICO’s very own Eleni Courea has all the gossip on a Labour reshuffle. Finally, POLITICO’S Annabelle Dickson lifts the lid on the final Supreme Court judgement on Sunak’s controversial plan to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda. Listen to the episode.
SUBSCRIBE to the POLITICO newsletter family: Brussels Playbook London Influence
