You’re reading Rapporteur on Wednesday 17 June. This is Eddy Wax in Brussels, with Nicoletta Ionta.
Need-to-knows:
🟢 Kaja Kallas ally fires back at critics
🟢 EU-China tensions hit boiling point
🟢 Will Starmer make it to the EU-UK summit?
On the Strasbourg roundabout: ECR keeps growing
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From the capital
A key ally of Kaja Kallas has stepped forward to defend the EU’s foreign policy chief as she faces a barrage of political attacks, including from fellow European commissioners.
Brussels has been set alight by selective reports suggesting the imminent abolition of her External Action Service, the EEAS, prompting Kallas to reassure the EU’s diplomats around the world.
“Those who are trying somehow to orchestrate this kind of criticism are working against the common interest of Europe,” said Marko Mihkelson, chair of the Estonian parliament’s foreign affairs committee.
Representing the EU’s foreign policy is no simple task. The High Representative occupies a dual-hatted role, wedged between the Commission and national foreign ministers while wielding only limited formal powers.
“It’s almost ‘Mission Impossible’ to be at the same time very clear in your position and then represent [everyone else’s] position,” Mihkelson told Rapporteur by phone. The 56-year-old former journalist has known Kallas for more than a decade. She brought him into their centrist Reform party.
Kallas’ allies argue that Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission has increasingly built parallel structures that have eaten into Kallas’ territory. First by hiving off Middle East policy into a new directorate-general, then by creating a defence commissioner, and now by seeking greater control over intelligence coordination and efforts to fight disinformation. Only yesterday, a Commission spokesperson publicly shot down Kallas’ push for more trade measures against Israel.
“Knowing Kaja well, she is an Iron Lady,” Mihkelson said. “She fought back heavy criticism in Estonia, so she’s fully prepared for these kinds of attacks and she knows what is right and what is wrong.”
Asked what it said about the EU if many of the attacks were coming from within its own institutions, Mihkelson said: “If that is the case, and obviously there are some hints that the internal fight is one of the backgrounds of this growing criticism, that is extremely sad to hear.”
Instead, EU institutions should be fully focused on the threat posed by Russia, he argued.
But isn’t Kallas, as many critics allege, too hawkish on Russia? She has sought to stretch the debate beyond where many EU states are comfortable, including proposing limits on Russia’s armed forces as part of any peace settlement – conditions the Kremlin would be unlikely to accept.
No, said Mihkelson. Europe is lucky to have someone so clear-eyed about the existential threat from the east.
He pointed out that Kirill Dmitriev, one of Vladimir Putin’s negotiators, had relished speculation about the EEAS’ demise.
“The history of the EEAS is relatively short,” Mihkelson said. “We should not be too critical about that, because it’s only the beginning of a long journey – hopefully.”
Don’t say China
EU leaders will debate China over dinner at Thursday’s summit amid growing concern over Beijing’s trade practices, supply chain dominance and alleged support for Russia.
Yet despite a hardening tone towards Beijing in the EU institutions and capitals such as Berlin, few expect the bloc to agree on concrete measures. Fears of Chinese retaliation will likely continue to divide EU countries, Thomas Moller-Nielsen reports.
There is much squeamishness about even naming China, with a senior official insisting the leaders’ dinner would focus on “global macroeconomic imbalances” – and that can include several countries. Fresh draft summit conclusions, seen by Rapporteur, make no mention of China.
Analysis: Who rejected Trump’s trade deal?
The EU-US trade deal drew a jagged dividing line through the European Parliament on Tuesday. Although a majority of 440 MEPs backed the agreement, 151 voted against it and another 50 abstained. Among those who opposed the deal was at least one member from each of Parliament’s eight political groups.
Among the more notable rebels was Patryk Jaki, the Polish Law & Justice co-chair of the ECR group, who was one of just three members of his political family to vote against the deal. His fellow co-chair, Nicola Procaccini of the Brothers of Italy, voted in favour, as did most of ECR.
The EPP overwhelmingly backed the agreement. But Polish EPP deputy Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, the former mayor of Warsaw, was the only member of the group to vote against it. One of Hungarian PM Péter Magyar’s top deputies, Eszter Lakos, abstained.
Many French MEPs – from the National Rally, through Macronists, the Socialists and Greens – voted against it too. In a paradox we’ve explored here before, some of the biggest champions of Trump’s politics in Europe abstained, including Hungary’s Fidesz and Spain’s Vox. By contrast, the Czech ANO party of Andrej Babiš and Geert Wilders’ Dutch PVV were the only Patriots to back the deal.
The Council is expected to endorse the agreement next week.
Brexit, part ten billion
What will be reset first, the British government or its relationship with Brussels?
Britain and the EU on Tuesday confirmed their next summit will take place on 22 July, weeks later than London had hoped, as political turmoil in Westminster complicates Keir Starmer’s efforts to tighten relations with Brussels.
Starmer faces a make-or-break by-election in Makerfield on Thursday, where his internal rival Andy Burnham could return to national politics and challenge him for his job.
Brussels and London insist they remain committed to closer cooperation on security and economic issues, but EU capitals remain wary of Britain’s domestic instability and reluctant to deepen ties without commitments on regulatory alignment, financial contributions and a youth mobility scheme.
Read Bruno Waterfield’s full story.
Here are three new stories from Euractiv:
Schuman roundabout
FUL-MINATING: Fulvio Martusciello was stripped of his parliamentary immunity in Tuesday’s Huawei-related vote, clearing the way for Belgian prosecutors to pursue their investigation. Read the full story.
I’LL SEE YOU IN COURT: The European Parliament’s canteen in Brussels is slated to become a food court capable of feeding more than 1,000 people. There are hygiene problems with the current one. Read the full story.
The capitals
MADRID 🇪🇸
Spain’s ruling Socialists and their left-wing coalition partner Sumar on Tuesday blocked an opposition bid to pressure Pedro Sánchez into calling early elections. The non-binding motion, backed by Sánchez’s occasional Catalan ally Junts and the opposition conservative PP, comes as the prime minister faces mounting corruption scandals linked to his inner circle and legislative gridlock. PSOE spokesperson Patxi López said only Sánchez has the authority to dissolve parliament.
– Inés Fernández-Pontes
WARSAW 🇵🇱
Poland’s government on Tuesday discussed a draft resolution to begin efforts to establish a permanent US military base on its territory, Donald Tusk said. Warsaw has long argued that a lasting American presence would strengthen NATO’s eastern flank and deter Russia. The initiative, proposed by Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, comes amid heightened security concerns across eastern Europe.
– Charles Szumski
BERLIN 🇩🇪
Former German cybersecurity chief Arne Schönbohm has won a court case after Munich’s Higher Regional Court ruled that statements made about him in a 2022 satirical TV programme were unlawful. In the ZDF broadcast, comedian Jan Böhmermann suggested Schönbohm had knowingly maintained links to Russian intelligence. The allegations triggered a political scandal and ultimately led to his dismissal by then-Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.
– Björn Stritzel
BUCHAREST 🇷🇴
President Nicușor Dan’s surprise nomination of Adrian Veștea for prime minister appears to be faltering, with support in parliament waning just days after the proposal emerged. No confidence vote has yet been scheduled, prolonging uncertainty over the country’s political direction. Dan is also facing resistance within the centre-right National Liberal Party, with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan reportedly threatening to expel Veștea if he continues pursuing the premiership.
– Matei Rosca
LJUBLJANA 🇸🇮
Slovenia’s new government under conservative former PM Janez Janša has reversed several Middle East policies adopted by its centre-left predecessor, lifting an arms embargo on Israel and scrapping entry bans on Benjamin Netanyahu and two Israeli ministers. The administration also removed a Palestinian flag from a government building, prompting President Nataša Pirc Musar to raise one at the presidential palace.
– Bronwyn Jones
LISBON 🇵🇹
PM Luís Montenegro of the centre-right Democratic Alliance vowed on Tuesday to “do everything” in his power to secure parliamentary backing for the government’s labour reform package ahead of talks with André Ventura, leader of the far-right Chega party. Arguing that more flexible labour rules are needed to boost competitiveness and productivity, Montenegro faces opposition from unions and the left, raising the prospect of relying on Chega’s support.
– Charles Szumski
SOFIA 🇧🇬
Bulgaria’s government plans to delay its full 2026 budget until August, while seeking parliamentary approval for up to €3.8 billion in new borrowing. The measure cleared a first reading with the backing of 135 MPs. Having joined the eurozone in January while remaining under the EU’s excessive deficit procedure, Sofia said the funds are needed to pre-finance recovery projects ahead of an August deadline.
– Konstantin Karadjov
Contributors: Thomas Moller-Nielsen, Björn Stritzel, Magnus Lund Nielsen, Martina Monti, Victoria Becker, Bruno Waterfield
Editors: Christina Zhao, Sofia Mandilara, Charles Szumski
