With a peak of 31°C at 4:50pm, this is officially the hottest EU summit day in Brussels in nearly a decade. The last hotter EUCO was on 22 June 2017, when temperatures reached almost 33°C at 2:20pm. (Yes, I went through the data of all past summits until I found the record)
All good things come in threes (except, apparently, European Commission presidencies).
On today's Brussels Playbook, we take you inside the private dinner where von der Leyen's chief of staff repeated three times that she won't run for a third mandate
Every Italian knows you're in trouble when an Italian mother is waiting for you at the table in that stance.
I got childhood-trauma goosebumps just writing this.
#EUPolitics and #EUBudget : #EU Commission eyes regional dept. overhaul in spending reset, by @gerardofortuna.bsky.social | Politico
www.politico.eu/article/euro...
A few hours before, Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto confirmed in a press briefing that a rethink of DG REGIO is underway, without ruling out the possibility that it could ultimately disappear altogether
The note adds that the department’s top brass is “aware of the speculation circulating,” but stresses that “no decision has been made" about the DG's future.
“You deserve to hear any significant news about your work and your futures from our institution—not from a news article”
UPDATE: Got my hands on an internal email sent by head of DG REGIO herself, titled: “Addressing this morning’s media article.”
“I understand the article will be unsettling to read,” the note says, while reassuring staff that their expertise remains “very much valued and needed”
