Never mind that the global economy might be about to implode amid the war in the Middle East or that surging oil prices have handed Russia an unexpected windfall as Vladimir Putin pursues his crusade in Ukraine.
The story that has captured the attention of everyone within a square kilometre of the Schuman roundabout this week (read: us hacks) involves the surreptitious recording of a phone call between Ursula von der Leyen’s chief spinmeister, Alexandra Henman, and Politico reporter Gerardo Fortuna.
The call, which took place in early March, was posted on YouTube last week and then circulated in Hungarian and Slovak media.
Like all Brussels scandals (save this one), the details are less sexy than advertised. While the call itself offers a revealing – and at times entertaining – peek at how Politico’s Playbook franchise operates these days, the dialogue is a far cry from the Watergate tapes.
The real mystery is who recorded it and why.
Both Politico and the Commission said they had investigated the phones in question and found no evidence of manipulation.
The ostensible purpose of the call was that Fortuna was trying to establish the veracity of this report in the Financial Times. In short, he wanted to know whether the Commission was pressuring Ukraine to allow EU inspectors access to the damaged Druzhba pipeline, which supplies both Hungary and Slovakia with oil.
Alas, he was no match for Henman. Her role is to serve as von der Leyen’s hidden hand, steering media coverage behind the scenes. During the call, she proved herself to be a skilled flack, parrying Fortuna’s ham-fisted questions so deftly that one can’t help but feel sorry for him.
And therein lies the mystery. Henman reveals nothing, neither confirming nor denying the FT story. That didn’t stop Orbán-friendly outlets in Hungary and Slovakia from publishing the recording as proof that the Commission was trying to undermine Budapest. That false narrative landed with a thud even in Orbán world.
So why bother to release the phone call in the first place? One theory is that whoever is behind it (Commission insiders suspect the Hungarians, who deny any culpability) were sending a message to von der Leyen that they have more.
We certainly hope not (and not just for Politico’s sake).
Regardless of who the culprits are, the incident makes clear that the ‘Brussels Bubble’ is ill-prepared for the kind of hardball tactics many naively only associated with authoritarian regimes.
In that sense, the episode feels less like a quirky Brussels sideshow and more like a warning shot. Old assumptions – that backchannel chats stay private, that spin remains deniable, that the ‘Bubble’ plays by gentler rules – no longer hold.
Whether this was a clumsy leak or a calculated signal, it points to a shift in the way power is exercised and contested in EU politics. Brussels may not like it, but it is stepping into a new era – one where surveillance, narrative warfare and strategic leaks are no longer exceptions, but part of what some media here call ‘the game’.
Roundup
ECB warns of inflation surge – ECB president Christine Lagarde said that the Iran war could see inflation surge more quickly than after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “The full impact of lost supply is only about to be felt,” she said on Wednesday.
McGuinness appointed religious freedom envoy – Ireland’s former European Commissioner will become the bloc’s next special envoy for religious freedom. Mairead McGuinness dropped out of Ireland’s presidential race last year on health grounds.
Commission approves French and Czech SAFE plans, sidelines Hungary – The Commission on Wednesday cleared the French and Czech plans outlining how they will spend their share of the €150 billion in Security Action for Europe (SAFE) loans, but left Hungary hanging. A total of 19 countries requested a share of the loans aimed at spurring joint defence procurement.
Across Europe
Lille for customs – The EU’s new customs authority will be located in the French city of Lille, the Council and Parliament decided on Wednesday. The authority will be responsible for checks on goods entering the EU’s single market and will try to improve oversight of the surge in packages from Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Temu and Shein.
Meloni rocked by mafia-linked resignation of justice aide – Just a day after her justice referendum defeat, Giorgia Meloni faces further pressure as her justice undersecretary resigned, following media reports that he held stakes in a company owned by the daughter of businessman Mauro Caroccia, who was convicted of mafia-related financial crimes.
EU faces calls for mpox vaccine transparency – Pressure is mounting for the EU to be more transparent about its contracts with Bavarian Nordic for millions of mpox doses, amid global talks on fairer vaccine access. Last year, the Commission launched a joint procurement contract with Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic for up to eight million doses of a vaccine for smallpox and mpox.
(ow, jp)
Source:
www.euractiv.com