Diplomats with chainsaws

Happy Wednesday, or if you’re reading the agenda for today’s EU ambassadors’ meeting, “WEDNESFAY.”

Welcome to Rapporteur. This is Eddy Wax, with Nicoletta Ionta in Brussels. Got a story we should know about? Drop us a line – we read every message.

Need-to-knows:

• Brussels: EU capitals deploy “simplification diplomats” to roll back regulations
• Oversight: Parliament clashes with Belgium over immunity for MEPs
• Diplomacy: Hungary doubles down on plans to host a Trump-Putin peace summit

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From the capital

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They’re lean, mean, and here to simplify. Almost every EU country has now appointed a dedicated diplomat in Brussels to chop down EU laws full-time.

Negotiating in a windowless room in the Council for up to two full days a week, many of these so-called simplification diplomats operate under direct instructions from their prime ministers to deliver results. And fast.

The rationale is straightforward: if EU laws were less burdensome for businesses, Europe’s economies would boom back into life. And perhaps Donald Trump would look kindly on us too.

Leaders including Friedrich Merz, Emmanuel Macron, Giorgia Meloni, and Donald Tusk, wrote to António Costa this week demanding a “systematic review” of all EU laws, throwing new political fuel on the bloc’s red-tape bonfire ahead of Thursday’s summit.

“We call for a systematic review of all EU regulations to identify rules that are superfluous, excessive, or unbalanced,” the letter read. “We must examine the entire acquis of EU rules to determine whether they are still fit for purpose.”

They want the next four years of law-unmaking to be defined by a “constant stream” of omnibus proposals, the legal bundles that aim to pare back existing rules. The 19 leaders will only countenance a “bare minimum” of fresh regulation. “Let’s accelerate,” they wrote.

The simplification diplomats – a new breed of omni-functionary – take pride in their meticulous but unsentimental approach to pruning superfluous clauses or ambiguous amendments. These cold-blooded simplifiers see themselves as better suited to the task than MEPs, who they accuse of being emotionally attached to the acquis.

“Instead of leaving it to those who originally negotiated the legislation that we now want to simplify,” said one top diplo. “We have established structures to allow those who take a horizontal view on these things to do the simplification.”

The only mode of transport in the EU now, it seems, is the omnibus.

Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday that in 2026 the Commission will reform its law-making principles, and propose a fleet of omnibuses covering energy, tax, cars, and more.

Simplification could become a priority for the upcoming Cypriot Council presidency, according to an early draft of its policy agenda. The latest draft of the summit conclusions, obtained by my colleague Sarantis Michalopoulos, calls for a “simplicity-by-design” approach to all future EU laws.

Not everyone is happy about the sound of chainsaws ringing out across the institutions.

Today in Strasbourg, left-wing MEPs will make one last attempt to stop a huge rollback of corporate supply-chain due-diligence laws. The vote will be held in secret at the request of the right, reports Magnus Lund Nielsen, to encourage Socialist defections.

And an EU watchdog is investigating a complaint by NGOs that the omnibus scramble has been done in an “untransparent, undemocratic and rushed way.”

Whatever happens, it won’t be simple.

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Rare earths, common ground

China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao will travel to Brussels in the coming days for talks on Beijing’s export restrictions on rare earths, EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič said on Tuesday.

Šefčovič said Wang Wentao accepted his invitation following a two-hour call on the issue, which has rattled EU policymakers and businesses.

EU courts Cairo

The EU will host its first-ever EU–Egypt summit today. The meeting aims to breathe new life into the €7.4 billion Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership signed in March 2024 to deepen cooperation on migration, energy, and security.

“This year marks a pivotal moment in our partnership,” Ursula von der Leyen wrote this week, calling for progress on the “migration and mobility pillar.” Egypt, a key regional ally for Brussels, is central to the bloc’s efforts to manage migration flows.

But human rights groups and lawmakers have urged caution. Human Rights Watch and eleven other associations warned the meeting should not ignore Egypt’s rights record. Last week, MEPs Tineke Strik and Mounir Satouri, backed by more than 30 colleagues, pressed EU leaders to tie financial support to “tangible democratic progress” amid intensifying repression under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Metsola vs. Belgium

When the “Qatargate” scandal exposed alleged corruption in the European Parliament, Parliament President Roberta Metsola pledged transparency and cooperation with Belgium’s judiciary. But three years on, relations between the Parliament and Belgian prosecutors have soured amid a new probe into alleged influence operations by Huawei, an investigation by Euractiv’s Elisa Braun found.

After prosecutors sought to lift an MEP’s immunity over an event the lawmaker hadn’t even attended, Parliament went on the defensive, accusing Belgium of carelessness. Since then, the Belgians’ requests to prosecute more lawmakers have stalled, and MEPs are now questioning the probe and challenging the Belgian prosecutor’s work.

The dispute has deepened mistrust between the two institutions and exposed flaws in the EU’s scrutiny system – raising the risk of investigations being paralysed by procedure.

Weber backs Metsola for third term

EPP leader Manfred Weber refused to confirm that his group will hand the assembly’s presidency to the Socialists in 2027, despite the centre-left’s insistence that a post-election deal is in place.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Weber hailed Roberta Metsola as “a great, well-respected president,” adding that “the institution can be proud to have such a personality in the lead.”

Athens makes Copenhagen swallow a camel

During tense talks in Luxembourg on Tuesday, Greece held the EU’s COP30 stance hostage over the inclusion of a net-zero shipping deal – the same one Athens had quietly watched the US sink in talks last week, writes Niko J. Kurmayer.

“It is 26 vs 1,” said one senior diplomat. But even isolated, Greek strongman Kyriakos Mitsotakis would not be bowed. He walked away the winner of the clash that mirrored deep divisions between Danish shipping giant Maersk and Greek shipowners. In the end, any reference to the clean-shipping deal was stripped from the EU’s position.

After the meeting, Denmark’s climate minister, Lars Aagaard, was keen to downplay the affair. But his spokesperson left journalists with a pointed Danish expression – to “sluge en kamel,” or to swallow a camel – meaning to amend a proposal. Sounds painful.

Veni, vidi, arrivederci

Von der Leyen made short shrift of her visit to Strasbourg on Tuesday, when she presented the Commission’s 2026 work programme. Lawmakers only got their hands on the official doc as she took the podium – but the smartest ones had been reading what we at Euractiv scooped last week.

The programme is all things defence, competitiveness, and a notable list of withdrawals of current proposals. Von der Leyen left it to forever-commissioner Šefčovič to wrap up the debate, making shout-outs to pro-European MEPs.

Judges to rule on ‘Pfizergate’ dismissal

This morning, Belgian judges will debate whether the dismissal earlier this year of a criminal complaint against Ursula von der Leyen over vaccine procurement was appropriate, a spokesperson for Belgium’s highest court of appeal told Euractiv’s Elisa Braun. Even if the decision goes in von der Leyen’s favour, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office investigation into vaccine procurement is continuing independently.

EPP’s Vučić probe begins

Following an increasingly violent crackdown on protesters in Serbia under Aleksandar Vučić, the European People’s Party today triggers its review of the membership of his SNS party. EPP chief Manfred Weber said the review was serious and urgent. He wouldn’t predict its outcome but in theory, it could lead to the expulsion of SNS.

In a plenary debate to mark the anniversary of the Novi Sad disaster, Commissioner Marta Kos said Serbia must make its “strategic choice clear,” warning that “close relations with Moscow and Beijing, accompanied with hostile rhetoric towards the EU, are not what is expected from a candidate country.” Vučić’s EPP colleagues did not defend him in the following debate. Croatian MEP Karlo Ressler said: “Vučić’s regime is generating a grotesque political psychosis.”

Defence downgrade?

The Cypriot presidency plans to reduce the Council’s focus on defence, Charles Cohen reports. Defence has dominated the Foreign Affairs Council since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but Cyprus’s draft presidency programme makes no mention of it. Instead, the FAC will prioritise “international partnerships” and global prosperity – a marked shift from Denmark’s security-heavy agenda. Cyprus insists the programme is far from finished.

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The capitals

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PARIS 🇫🇷

On a visit to Slovenia, Macron floated the prospect of putting France’s fraught pension reform to a referendum, signalling a potential shift in tone on one of his most contested policies. PM Sébastien Lecornu, seeking to ease tensions with unions and opposition parties, had already promised to reopen negotiations on “pensions and work.” In his first address to the National Assembly, Lecornu said the 2023 law lifting the retirement age from 62 to 64 would be suspended until the 2027 presidential election – a tactical retreat aimed at neutralising a Socialist no-confidence vote.

BRATISLAVA 🇸🇰

Slovakia accused the Netherlands of “interfering in its internal affairs” after Dutch lawmakers urged The Hague to take Bratislava to the EU Court of Justice over recent constitutional changes asserting the primacy of national law over EU law and banning surrogacy and same-sex marriage. “Is it now common in the EU for countries to meddle in others’ domestic matters?” Slovakia’s government office said. Legal experts told Euractiv the amendments would have barred Slovakia from joining the EU and could soon force the Commission to act.

COPENHAGEN 🇩🇰

Mette Frederiksen will face renewed scrutiny in parliament today over her handling of the 2020 mink cull, after new documents cast doubt on claims that all efforts were made to recover deleted text messages central to the scandal. The revelations, reported by Berlingske and BT, suggest Denmark’s intelligence service believed recovery options had not been exhausted – contradicting statements to parliament by Frederiksen’s former government. The opposition has called for a new inquiry ahead of the case’s statute of limitations.

WARSAW 🇵🇱

Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski warned that Poland “could not guarantee” an independent court would refrain from ordering the detention of Vladimir Putin’s plane if it entered Polish airspace en route to the planned Trump-Putin summit in Budapest. Bulgaria, by contrast, said it would allow the Russian president’s aircraft to transit, prompting Moscow to accuse Sikorski of “extremism” and “justifying terrorism,” according to comments by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

ROME 🇮🇹

Italy’s draft budget has yet to reach Parliament, but tensions are already emerging within the ruling coalition. Forza Italia and the League have both come out against the government’s plan to lift the flat tax on short-term rentals from 21 to 26%, warning it would punish small landlords and dampen domestic demand. The allies are further divided over an additional levy on banks, with Matteo Salvini on Tuesday calling for the rate to be increased to fund healthcare and family support.

MINSK 🇧🇾

In her address to the European Parliament today, Belarusian opposition figure Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is expected to urge lawmakers to maintain pressure on Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. Tikhanovskaya’s visit to Strasbourg – alongside her husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, freed from jail in June after five years – comes amid signs of rapprochement between Belarus and Washington, after Trump praised the “highly respected President of Belarus” and eased sanctions on Belavia.

MADRID 🇪🇸

Government spokesperson Pilar Alegría said on Tuesday that Madrid was “not concerned” by a Supreme Court order summoning former Socialist Party officials to testify over alleged cash payments to ex-transport minister José Luis Ábalos and his aide Koldo García. The move follows new Guardia Civil evidence into a suspected kickback network involving figures close to Pedro Sánchez. Alegría said the government remained committed to “cooperation and transparency” as the corruption probe widens.

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Schuman roundabout

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OPPORTUNITY TO WORK FOR FREE: German EPP lawmaker Christian Ehler is looking for interns to do six-week stints in his office “to gain valuable insights into the work of the European Parliament” – without being compensated. Earlier this month, EU lawmakers – including members of Ehler’s own political group – voted to ban unpaid internships. In 2023, Ehler himself voted in favour of a non-binding resolution that said traineeships should be compensated in cash or kind.

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Also on Euractiv

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European affairs ministers have grown accustomed to Spain’s efforts to push for the official recognition of Catalan, Basque, and Galician as EU languages. But now, in the face of opposition from Germany and others, Pedro Sánchez’s push is slowing down.

Some remain optimistic: “I would say there is a majority of countries which already accept that this is a decision to be taken,” Jaume Duch, a councillor in Catalonia’s regional government, told me in an interview.

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Manon Aubry, co-chair of The Left, has accused the Commission and mainstream parties of bowing to corporate and political pressure by weakening the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

In an op-ed for Euractiv, Aubry argued that the revised version of the law, now limited to only the largest companies and stripped of its civil liability regime, marks a “complete unravelling” of the EU’s corporate accountability agenda and reflects the Commission’s wider shift towards “deregulation.”

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Agenda

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📍 EU-Egypt summit, followed by dinner with EU heads of state and government

📍 António Costa receives the presidents of the Committee of the Regions and the EESC

📍 Tripartite Social Summit

📍 Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, with debates on: preparation for the EU summit, speech by Ursula von der Leyen; situation in Belarus, Sakharov Prize announcement; speech by Sergei Tikhanovsky and Svetlana Tikhanovskaya; assault on democratic institutions in Bulgaria; presentation of the Court of Auditors’ annual report; first anniversary of the Dana flood in Spain; accusations of espionage by the Hungarian government in EU institutions; COP30 in Brazil; CITES COP20 in Uzbekistan; and halt to energy imports from Russia

📍 EP Conference of Presidents meets

📍 Press conference on the renewal of the European Economic and Social Committee with newly elected President Séamus Boland, Vice-President for Communication Marija Hanževački, and Vice-President for Budget Alena Mastantuono

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Contributors: Magnus Lund Nielsen, Nikolaus J. Kurmayer, Elisa Braun, Thomas Møller-Nielsen, Jacob Wulff Wold, Sarantis Michalopoulos, Laurent Geslin, Alessia Peretti, Natália Silenská, Inés Fernández-Pontes

Editors: Christina Zhao, Sofia Mandilara