BRUSSELS Playbook from POLITICO
Ukraine to EU: Let us strike Russia
POLITICO Brussels Playbook
Brussels Playbook
By SUZANNE LYNCH
with ZOYA SHEFTALOVICH
GOOD MORNING and welcome to Brussels Playbook. Suzanne Lynch here in the hot seat with the strains of Beyoncé’s anthem “Freedom” and the screams of thousands of psyched-up Americans ringing in my ears after last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago. We’ve got more from Chicago on how the EU is preparing for a possible Kamala Harris presidency below. Sarah Wheaton will be back at the Playbook helm Friday.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking as countries race to meet Friday’s deadline to nominate their EU commissioner. Ursula von der Leyen has already begun interviewing candidates and issuing further invites for one-on-ones this week. The latest on that is also down below. But first …
DRIVING THE DAY: KULEBA MAKES HIS PITCH
FAC IS BACK: Foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels, kicking off two days of foreign and defense discussions that mark the European Union’s return to full throttle after the summer break. Reminder: This is the gathering that was supposed to happen in Budapest under the auspices of Hungary’s six-month Council presidency, before the rest of the EU boycotted it in exasperation with Viktor Orbán’s solo foreign policy runs, including a visit to Moscow, and repeated attempts to thwart EU sanctions. (A meeting of eurozone finance ministers scheduled for Budapest next month could also be canceled, Kathryn Carlson reports.)
PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who will attend today’s gathering, says Kyiv’s top priority is convincing allies to allow Western-supplied weapons to be used deep inside Russia. “I want them to go back to their capitals … to get support to finally lift restrictions on long-range strikes on all legitimate military targets in Russia,” Kuleba told Playbook in an interview. “Of course, this decision lies mainly with the United States and the U.K., but France is also a party and part of the EU.”
Biden’s ear: Kuleba will use his attendance at today’s meeting to lobby Europe to persuade Washington to change its stance. “The European Union is a fundamentally important pillar in the coalition in support of Ukraine and can and should play a role in persuading the United States to make this decision happen,” he said.
Context: Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Andriy Yermak, senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are in Washington this week to make a similar plea, and to present a list of long-range targets in Russia they think they can hit if the Biden administration lifts its restrictions, my U.S. colleagues report.
Paris calls: Kuleba said he recognized that French President Emmanuel Macron had previously said Ukraine should be allowed to strike military bases deep in Russia. “I do not question the good intention, but the fact is that we still cannot shoot,” Kuleba said. “The moment we can shoot, the moment we have enough missiles and can use them, then it will work. But as of now, we are still in the process of talking, of negotiating.”
Decision time for Poland: Kuleba said he will also ask ministers to allow the use of air defense capabilities in EU countries, in particular Poland, to protect parts of Ukrainian airspace. “I don’t question the willingness of Poland to build up defensive mechanisms, they cannot do it on their own. We need partners to support them on this,” he said, reflecting the fact that Poland’s air defense system is integrated with NATO’s.
“The argument that this would make some of them party to the war is void,” Kuleba said. “You don’t enter the war by shooting down a missile or drone that flies in your direction and may actually inflict damage on your own territory.”
Upping the ante: Kuleba also wants neighboring countries to take their support for Ukraine to the next level. “We are talking about planes [not only] flying in Polish air space but being capable of intercepting Russian missiles in Ukrainian airspace,” he said. Zelenskyy discussed this with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg at the alliance’s summit in July, Kuleba added. “We’ve been working on it since then through military and diplomatic channels, but it’s time to make a decision. You’ve seen just recently how bad Russian missile and drone attacks have been.”
Homegrown defense: Ukraine’s top diplomat also wants to encourage direct purchases of weapons from Ukrainian manufacturers. “After two and half years of the war, we have ramped up production and built up capacity. And the most cost and time-efficient ways of providing Ukraine with lethal and non-lethal weapons is to buy from our own producers.”
Going ballistic: Kuleba declined to give more details on Zelenskyy’s announcement this week that Ukraine had successfully tested its first ballistic missile, but he stressed that his country’s rapidly expanding defense industrial base should not be an excuse for allies to take their foot off the gas. “Of course every new weapon we develop ourselves makes us feel more confident. But Ukraine’s successes in developing and applying state-of-the-art weapons should not serve as an excuse for partner countries not to deliver similar weapons to Ukraine. The scale of this war and the sacrifice we’re making has proved that we can succeed only when we act together.”
Ukraine isn’t the only subject on the agenda: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will meet ministers over lunch to discuss EU-Turkey relations, and the dire situation in the Middle East will dominate discussion this afternoon. The U.N.’s top coordinator on humanitarian and reconstruction needs for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, is due to brief ministers. Kaag will be a familiar face around the FAC table having previously served as Dutch foreign minister.
Venezuela crisis: Ministers will also discuss Venezuela, where, a month after a disputed presidential election, President Nicolás Maduro is busy reshuffling his Cabinet while defying protests that have swept the country. The EU has called for official voting records to be verified — but stopped short of recognizing Maduro’s rival Edmundo González as the winner, as the United States has.
DUROV LATEST
DUROV OUT ON €5M BAIL: French authorities indicted Telegram CEO Pavel Durov with six charges and released him from custody on a €5 million bail last night. The Russian-born tech tycoon is forbidden from leaving France and must check in at a police station twice a week.
The charges: Durov is accused of complicity in managing an online platform “in order to enable an illegal transaction in organized group,” and refusal to cooperate with law enforcement authorities, among other charges, the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a press release.
How many users does Telegram actually have in the EU? The FT reports that Brussels is investigating whether Telegram breached EU rules by failing to provide accurate user numbers. As my tech colleague Pieter Haeck writes in this Pro explainer about why the EU has been sidelined in this case, Telegram’s users fell just a few million short of the 45 million needed to be placed under Brussels’ oversight.
The other Durov: Nikolai Durov, Pavel’s brother and a Telegram co-founder, is also wanted by French authorities, our POLITICO team in Paris and Brussels revealed Wednesday. A French administrative document seen exclusively by Océane Herrero, Victor Goury-Laffont and Elisa Braun indicates the undercover investigation into Telegram is wider and began months earlier than previously known. Read the full story.
NOT JUST PARIS: Pavel Durov is also a suspect in a Swiss criminal case, Forbes reports.
EUROPE PREPS FOR US ELECTION
DEM HOPES: Europe was out in full force last week in Chicago as the Democratic Party endorsed Kamala Harris as its nominee for president, capping a whirlwind month in U.S. politics after Joe Biden sensationally withdrew from the ticket. Polls show Harris is edging out Trump in the popular vote, though margins are still razor-thin in the all-important swing states that dictate the outcome of U.S. presidential elections.
Postcard from Chicago: Ambassadors from across the EU’s member countries swapped their residences in sweltering Washington for the cooler climate of Chicago, nabbing prime spots to watch festivities from the third floor of the United Center Arena and networking with delegates and Democratic power-brokers. Spotted: Timmy Dooley, co-president of Europe-wide political party Alde; MEP Brando Benifei; German CDU member of parliament Jürgen Hardt; and a plethora of former European prime ministers, including Magdalena Andersson, Sanna Marin and Leo Varadkar.
Playbook interview: “One of the main priorities for us is to make sure that we follow what’s happening on the campaign, get to know the people who will potentially be part of the administration,” Jovita Neliupšienė, the EU’s ambassador to the United States, told me. “That’s why we’re here, and were also at the Republican convention in Milwaukee.” (Case in point: Neliupšienė pressing the flesh with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who is rumored to be a possible candidate for Treasury secretary.)
Pushing Europe’s priorities: “Our interests are very clear — we are the biggest investor in the U.S. and we create the biggest chunk of international jobs in the U.S. My job is to emphasize that the best way to tackle challenges, be it trade, environment or security, is by working together,” the former Lithuanian official said.
On the road: A key focus for the EU’s diplomatic efforts in the U.S. in recent years has been to get out of Washington and put in face-time in states like Kansas and Kentucky to highlight European investment at that level. “I’ve been here seven months and have visited nine states,” Neliupšienė said. “Sometimes €1.6 trillion in trade between the EU and the U.S. doesn’t mean very much to people. In fact, that’s about €3.6 billion a day. You have to get down to state level.”
Always the diplomat: Like virtually all non-U.S. officials and politicians, Neliupšienė stays on script when it comes to the question of whether Europe is prepared for a second Trump presidency, which could significantly alter the trading relationship. “We are getting ready to work with whoever is president of the United States,” Neliupšienė said, but she conceded that the last few years have been a particularly good period of transatlantic cooperation, particularly on security. “We’re at a peak — we hope that this will continue, depending very much on which administration we will have.”
CAMPAIGN LATEST: As she continues to bask in the glow of a successful DNC, Harris will give her first sit-down interview since replacing Biden as the Democratic candidate with CNN tonight, along with her running mate Tim Walz. For an insight into some of the challenges facing the Democratic nominee, here’s a rundown of the five warning signs for Harris after the convention.
Swinging into Georgia: Harris is in Georgia today for her first campaign event since the DNC in Chicago. Biden won the 2020 election here by an extremely tight margin — but the swing state has still been largely ignored, reports Myah Ward.
MEANWHILE, IN TRUMPWORLD: The former president used Truth Social to repost a lewd remark made by another user that suggested Harris had used sexual favors to boost her political career. New York Times has the details.
Picking a Meta fight: And in a book due out next week, Trump claims Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg plotted against him in 2020 and would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he does it again, POLITICO’s Alex Isenstadt writes .
NEW COMMISSIONERS
TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK: Time is running out for EU countries to get their nominations for commissioners to Ursula von der Leyen before the Aug. 30 deadline. As names have trickled in, VDL has been hard at work in the Berlaymont this week nailing down her 2024 team with her Chief of Staff Bjoern Seibert.
And then there were 3: On Wednesday, Spain, Denmark and Portugal announced their picks, leaving just three countries — Italy, Bulgaria and Belgium — to reveal their choices. Copenhagen was the latest to defy von der Leyen’s request for both a male and female nominee and put forward Dan Jørgensen, a former climate and energy minister.
Iberian women unite: Spain and Portugal both nominated women. As expected, Madrid picked Teresa Ribera, a leading figure in the climate world. Playbook hears her chef de cabinet would be Miguel Gil Tertre, a long-time Commission official and former chief economist at DG ENER.
Scramble for finance jobs continues: Portugal’s pick, Maria Luís Albuquerque, is a former finance minister, which puts her in the frame for one of the many coveted finance-related jobs in the Commission. The fact that former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa has a plum job as president of the European Council might weaken the case for Lisbon to get a heavy-hitting role across the road in the Berlaymont, though her gender is likely to trump any concerns about inter-institutional balance.
Cohesion funding: Not everyone has their eyes on the finance positions, however. Greece wants its next commissioner to take charge of EU regional economic policy and is confident of getting it, report Nektaria Stamouli and Gregorio Sorgi. “Cohesion portfolio is the most likely for Greece to get and the main one the country is aiming for,” a senior Greek official told POLITICO.
WON’T ANYONE THINK OF THE SOCIALISTS? They’re crying foul over a lack of “political balance” in the commissioner ranks, reports my colleague Max Griera.
IN OTHER NEWS
CIA PROVIDED AUSTRIA WITH TAYLOR SWIFT CONCERT INTEL: The U.S. CIA passed intelligence to Austrian authorities that allowed them to foil a terror plot at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna this month, the agency’s deputy director said on Wednesday.
PUTIN’S NEXT COUP IS IN GERMANY: Russian President Vladimir Putin may be smarting over Ukraine’s surprise Kursk incursion, but soon he’ll likely be celebrating territorial gains in Germany, writes my colleague Matthew Karnitschnig. Russia-friendly parties across three eastern German states are poised to score substantial gains in regional elections in September.
DISPATCH FROM THE CLIMATE CRISIS: “I went to Iceland for a road trip. I left with climate anxiety,” writes Antonia Zimmermann.
AGENDA
— Informal meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers. Arrivals and doorsteps at 8 a.m. … press conference with EU High Representative Josep Borrell at 5:15 p.m. Watch.
— European Council President Charles Michel visits Saudi Arabia.
— Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager is in Copenhagen, Denmark, and will deliver a keynote speech and Q&A at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
—Commission Vice President Věra Jourová is in Prague, Czechia, where she speaks at a conference on “Building an AI economy.”
— Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič participates in commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising.
— The European Court of Human Rights issues ruling in the case of Pasquinelli and Others v. San Marino at 10 a.m. The case concerns 26 health care workers who refused to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
— Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is visiting West Africa.
— French President Emmanuel Macron meets U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Paris at 11 a.m. at the Elysée; before flying to Serbia for a two-day visit during which he’ll meet President Aleksandar Vučić.
BRUSSELS CORNER
WEATHER: High of 25C, sunny.
NEW JOB 1: Matthew Tabone has been appointed by Roberta Metsola to head the European Parliament president’s office, succeeding Leticia Zuleta De Reales Ansaldo, who has been made director of national parliaments. Tabone previously managed Metsola’s MEP office and led transparency reforms — he’s also Metsola’s brother-in-law. Read the full profile of him in POLITICO’s Power 40 Class of 2023 list.
NEW JOB 2: Belgian diplomat Pierre Steverlynck has been appointed spokesperson at the Belgian ministry of foreign affairs.
FOREST SOUNDS: End the summer with concerts, drinks and food in a former Benedictine abbey. Starts Friday at 6 p.m. Choose your own ticket price.
BIRTHDAYS: Former MEPs Santiago Fisas Ayxelà and Patrick O’Flynn; Paris Peace Forum’s Evan O’Connell; Roger McShane of the Economist; Nestlé’s Molly Phillips Fogarty; Tunku Varadarajan, American Enterprise Institute fellow; CNN’s Uliana Pavlova; Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Lithuanian conductor and POLITICO 28 alum.
THANKS TO: Nick Vinocur, Stuart Lao, Playbook editor Alex Spence, Playbook reporter Šejla Ahmatović and producer Dean Southwell.
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