The 4 unlucky commissioners working this summer

What’s driving the day in Brussels.
By EDDY WAX
with ZOYA SHEFTALOVICH
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WELCOME TO AUGUST. This is Eddy Wax with you for the rest of the week. Everywhere I zip around Brussels on my bicycle I keep getting the same question: does Playbook not take a break for the summer? The answer is: hell no!
BRUSSELS HITS SNOOZE BUTTON: The streets of the EU quarter are eerily quiet, the coffee queues shorter, and out-of-office replies are pelting down on journalists’ inboxes like the almost-forgotten Brussels rain.
Summer survivors: The European Commission has switched to bare-bones mode, leaving one commissioner on duty each week of the coming lull.
“The Commission ensures the presence of at least one Commissioner on duty, in case of need for immediate reaction and coordination,” spokesperson Balazs Ujvari told Playbook in an email.
Those who pulled the short straw are … Czech Republic’s Věra Jourová, who’s in charge next week, then France’s Thierry Breton, and then Portugal’s Elisa Ferreira. Latvia’s Valdis Dombrovskis, whose watch is nearly ended, to quote “Game of Thrones,” signs off Friday after a week on duty.
Presidential privilege? Playbook didn’t ask if each of these commissioners get to strut around the 13th floor of the Berlaymont, dancing up and down shouting “I’m the president now!” We presume not.
Don’t get too comfortable: School is back on Sept. 11, when the College of Commissioners holds its first official meeting, according to a draft agenda seen by POLITICO’s Laura Kayali. This — according to the document — will be the 2500th College meeting, for anyone who’s counting.
ORBÁN DROPS VETO ON VENEZUELA CRITICISM: Following our report that Hungary blocked a joint EU statement criticizing the dubious “reelection” of strongman Nicolás Maduro, Budapest’s foreign ministry appears to have changed position on Wednesday, our Berlin Playbook colleague Hans von der Burchard writes in to report.
Second thoughts: A spokesperson told Hungarian media that Budapest now supports the EU statement and had only “waited until we received the reports from Venezuela.” The news that hard-right Orbán was helping to defend the far-left Maduro seems not to have gone down so well.
MEPs fall in line: Orbán’s Fidesz MEPs began furiously backpedaling too, with senior lawmaker Enikő Győri tweeting that they had signed a joint letter pushed by far-right Spanish party Vox and signed by many ECR MEPs, slamming Maduro for “huge fraud.”
Yet there is still no joint EU statement: One person familiar with the discussions said Hungary’s change of position came late as EU foreign representative Josep Borrell had in the meantime already issued two alternative statements under his own name. Until now, the EU hasn’t attempted to issue a new joint statement for which it would seek Hungary’s backing.
7’s faster than 27: G7 foreign ministers weighed in Wednesday, releasing a statement that highlights the “serious concerns about the announced results of Venezuela’s Presidential elections and about the way the electoral process was conducted.”
HANIYEH ASSASSINATION FALLOUT: Last night the New York Times reported that Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered a retaliatory attack on Israel, after the killing in Iran of Hamas’ top political commander Ismail Haniyeh. The EU calls “on all parties to exert maximum restraint and avoid any further escalation,” spokesperson Peter Stano told Playbook.
EU diplomat close to the action: Senior EEAS diplomat Enrique Mora was at the presidential inauguration in Tehran, which Haniyeh attended before he was killed. In the family photo he stood just a few meters away from the Hamas chief. Mora continues to take flak from MEPs including German Green Hannah Neumann for attending. But spokesperson Stano wrote: “The EU keeps a policy of critical engagement as agreed by the EU Member States in December 2022. Since the EU does not have permanent diplomatic mission in Tehran, the presence at the inauguration — at the lower, diplomatic level — was an opportunity to convey EU’s position on all issues of concern related to Iran.”
RUSSIAN PRISONER SWAP WATCH: Rumors of an imminent prisoner swap between Moscow and Western countries including the U.S. and Germany are surging, after a number of high-profile political prisoners went missing from detention centers and prisons throughout Russia. POLITICO’s Eva Hartog reports that among those whose whereabouts are currently unknown are Russian-British Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian-German Kevin Lik, and former U.S. marine Paul Whelan.
ZELENSKYY ON GIVING UP TERRITORY: “A VERY, VERY DIFFICULT” QUESTION. Asked in an interview with French media whether he is considering the possibility of ceding territory to Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “Those in power have no official right to give up [Ukrainian] territories. For that to happen, the Ukrainian people have to want it.” He added that ceding ground is “not the best option,” because that would be a win for Russian President Vladimir Putin and could embolden him to seek more Ukrainian land at a later point. “That’s why this question is very, very, difficult,” Zelenskyy said.
MEANWHILE, IN KYIV: Vitaly Klitschko’s critics have come out swinging over the boxing champ’s record as Kyiv mayor, arguing his administration had failed to stop the destruction of the capital’s heritage and to improve infrastructure. Veronika Melkozerova has the story.
EU PREPARES FOR CHINA CLIMATE SHOWDOWN: The EU wants to pressure emerging economies such as China to contribute funding for climate action in developing nations at the COP29 U.N. climate summit in Azerbaijan in November, my colleague Zia Weise reports.
NO, THE EU ISN’T WINNING: The European Commission’s representation in France has launched a website to track the number of medals the EU is winning — currently 20 gold, 23 silver and 29 bronze. Some have gleefully jumped on that narrative.
“Did you know?” … asks a colorful document produced by the Commission about the Olympics and the EU. “If a ‘European Union’ team had existed at the Olympic Games in Tokyo (2020) it would have won 287 medals, including 87 gold. More than the U.S. and China.” But, erm, it didn’t.
The long jump — to conclusions: The EU isn’t winning any medals; individual countries that happen to be part of the EU are. Here’s the official medal table, with China No. 1, followed by hosts France, then Japan, Australia and Britain rounding out the Top 5.
Not buying it: The Commission describes all athletes from EU member countries as part of “Team Europe,” a jargonistic term that is also widely sprayed around in Brussels while the bloc signs migration-curbing deals with North African autocrats. But “even if this is done in good spirit and does not cause much damage, it doesn’t make much sense,” said Manuel Müller, senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. “Although the EU has a competence for sports policy, its activities are primarily concerned with grassroots sport,” he said, adding that if there actually was a single EU team, it would likely have to send far fewer athletes than the sum of the 27 countries combined.
Vengaboys: We’re going to Strasbourg! The Commission’s communications department also claimed the opening ceremony in Paris as a win, saying it was the first time the EU featured “very prominently” in such an event. The proof? A barge bearing an EU flag with some dancers bopping to Eurodance (another thing the EU is apparently claiming).
Freeloading is not an Olympic sport! EU staff cannot accept free tickets to the Paris games, according to internal rules seen by my POLITICO colleague Kathryn Carlson. There’s a loophole if you’re a commissioner there to represent the EU.
SOCIALISTS FRET OVER DEVELOPMENT POST: Is the commissioner for global development — known in Brussels-speak as “international partnerships” — about to get the ax? Ursula von der Leyen’s successful pitch last month for another five-year term — backed by Socialists — has left some in Parliament believing that’s the case.
Commission turns inward? Social Democrat MEP Udo Bullmann told Playbook: “Rumors from the EU Commission, [von der Leyen’s] speech itself and the political guidelines make it questionable whether von der Leyen will reinstate a post of a European commissioner for international partnerships in the future.” Bullmann, who penned a letter — seen by Playbook — to the Commission president dated July 25 to express his “concern,” said the lack of any mention by von der Leyen of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals suggested she wants to “shorten her ambitions from a global commission to a self-centered EU.” Her guidelines did mention the Global Gateway Initiative — the EU’s global infrastructure development project, though.
INTPA is here to stay: “Building mutually beneficial partnerships will be a key part of the work in the next mandate as part of our economic foreign policy,” a Commission spokesperson retorted, adding “we are not going to speculate” on the structure of the next College. “Don’t try fix something that isn’t broken,” suggested another EU official, who floated that the Commission could link the international partnerships portfolio to economic interests or security in the next College. 
AUSTRIA WANTS “COMPETITIVENESS” ROLE: Vienna nominated Finance Minister Magnus Brunner as its EU commissioner candidate, becoming the latest member country to flatly ignore von der Leyen’s request for a man and woman. As things stand there could almost be as many male ex-finance ministers in the next College of Commissioners as women.
Finance bros fight it out: Brunner made a not-so-subtle pitch for a job relating to competitiveness, jobs and “prosperity” in a tweet. Gregorio Sorgi has a write-up about all the men competing for big economic portfolios.
FOURTH TIME AROUND: Commission Executive Vice President Maroš Šefčovič is poised for an unprecedented fourth term in Brussels, after being officially nominated in a letter by Slovak PM Robert Fico. The Netherlands’ Wopke Hoekstra also got the nod from The Hague to return. Countries don’t need to also name a woman if their commissioner is returning — but so far von der Leyen is the only woman who is confirmed as coming back.
SINKEVIČIUS PRAISES VON DER LEYEN’S “SUPER-CHARM”: Former environment commissioner turned Green MEP Virginijus Sinkevičius has warned that von der Leyen’s “second term might be much more challenging than the first one.” But he told POLITICO’s Power Play podcast that her “super-charm, face and soul” will be a big advantage.
NGOS SLAM COMMISSION’S REPORT ON GREEK RULE OF LAW: The European Commission’s 2024 Rule of Law report, published last week, is misleading about the state of the rule of law in Greece, 14 human rights and media freedom organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Transparency International, argue in a statement to be published today. “By glossing over critical issues in Greece facing the media and civil society, the European Commission’s findings risk emboldening the Greek government’s crackdown on independent media and civil society,” the NGOs argue in the statement. H/t Nektaria Stamouli.
KEIR STARMER’S FAR-RIGHT PROBLEM: Following the rioting that broke out after the horrific knife attack at a children’s dance class in Southport, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces the urgent problem of tackling the disorder linked to the far right. And his task is complicated by the continued rise of Nigel Farage, POLITICO’s Andrew McDonald reports.
WEATHER: Sunny and cloudy, high of 25C. 
16 SENIOR PARLIAMENT OFFICIALS GET PAY RISE: Over a dozen directors in the European Parliament are getting bumped up a pay grade, from rank 14 to 15, starting today, according to minutes from the Bureau. That means they’ll go from earning €16,569.31 per month (yes, per month!) to €18,747.14, the second-highest salary grade. “We do not comment on individual staff matters, but staff across the institution are regularly promoted from one grade to another,” said the European Parliament’s press office.
NEW MEP SPAT: Hard on the heels of the legal fight between two French members of the European Parliament, another pair are going at it, my colleague Zia Weise reports. Italian Democratic Party MEP Antonio Decaro, the former mayor of Bari who now chairs the powerful environment committee, said he will sue German far-right lawmaker Christine Anderson for defamation after she linked him to the mafia; prosecutors say there’s no evidence for that. Neither MEP responded to our requests for comment.
SPOTTED drinking Pimm’s at the U.K. Mission to the EU last night: POLITICO’s Camille Gijs, Federica Di Sario, Gian Volpicelli and Koen Verhelst … DW’s Rosie Birchard … MLex’s Sam Clark … Feature Story News’ Alex Cadier … AFP’s Raziye Akkoç … Reuters’ Andrew Gray … Financial Times’ Henry Foy and Paola Tamma … Bloomberg’s Kevin Whitelaw and Max Ramsay … Greek embassy’s Sofia Christaki … Slovak perm rep’s Pavol Kucharovic … Bulgaria perm rep’s Dimitar Yaprakov … German perm rep’s Katharina Meeh … U.S. mission’s Zerlina Bartholomew, Gavin Sundwall and Eric Barbee … Australian mission’s Natasha Burley … Canadian mission’s Susanne Connolly … European Commission’s Saul Goulding … U.K. mission’s Caitlin Griffith, Letisha Lunin, Dimitrios Mavridis and Andrew Wood.
NEW JOBS 1 AND 2: Lutz Güllner, the EU’s incoming top envoy to Taipei, bid farewell to the counter-disinformation team he’s been leading at the EEAS. He’ll swap roles with the current EU top diplomat in Taiwan, Filip Grzegorzewski, Stuart Lau writes in to report. 
NEW JOB 3: Márton Hajdu, currently at the Commission’s secretariat-general (and a former spokesperson of the Permanent Representation of Hungary to the EU), will run the office of the Hungarian opposition Tisza party in the European Parliament, as an assistant to delegation leader MEP Zoltán Tarr. 
BIRTHDAYS: Former MEPs Pedro Marques, Ljudmila Novak, Frances Fitzgerald and Dominique Bilde; Northern Ireland Executive’s Nuala McNamee. Swiss National Day.
THANKS TO: Hans von der Burchard, Zia Weise, Stuart Lau, Barbara Moens, Laura Kayali, Koen Verhelst, Gregorio Sorgi, Christian Oliver, Khushbu Shah and Sarah Wheaton; Playbook editor Alex Spence and producer Dean Southwell.
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