Welcome to the new Palace of Versailles

A weekly newsletter on campaigning, lobbying and political influence in the EU.
By ELISA BRAUN
Tips, tales, traumas to @elisabraun or [email protected] | View in your browser
BONJOUR. A quick, provocative question … is the Berlaymont the modern-day Versailles? The French palace was built with the aim of concentrating power at a time when the kingdom was so vast and divided that the king wanted to keep his enemies close in a (fairly) remote provincial town — and, more precisely, in a building that gave him complete oversight on what was happening.
A way-too transparent spectacle. In Versailles, the structure of the building itself was horizontal and allowed for no privacy, unless you were the king — and he only engaged with others when handing out favors (or humiliation) by allowing the nobility to accompany him to the loo or to hand him his PJs.
Let them eat draft regulations. The Berlaymont’s structure of power is vertical (and with fewer golden ceilings and fancy mirrors) but it also concentrates power and comes with a court that abides by specific rules and manners — I’m talking about you, dear lobbyists, public servants and even some journalists. The Berlaymont also has a monarch, who eats and sleeps in the palace and purges the plotters.
Ah ça ira. I’ll let you decide if Ursula von der Leyen is more of a Roi Soleil or a Marie-Antoinette (in a non-sexist way, please). Or if she’s even an empress. One thing we do know is that she’s pissed off the French and that doesn’t always end well.
Today we’re talking about:
— Grilling future commissioners on potential conflicts of interest 
— NGOs think Mario Draghi’s report is a bit too corporate-friendly
**Psst… Did you know our fifth edition of POLITICO Competitive Europe Week is also happening online on October 1-3? From Industrial Policy to Tech & AI sessions, we’ve got you covered with this year’s unmissable 3-day event! Register to watch online!**
CRUNCH TIME IN STRASBOURG. After weeks of speculation, we know who will be doing what in the next European Commission (POLITICO profiled all the new commissioners here and has an org chart here). The Berlaymont nobility now has to pass a crucial test in a dangerous arena, the European Parliament, where lawmakers will evaluate if the commissioners are fit to do their jobs. Plus, there’s the sensitive question of conflicts of interest. Here’s how it works.
A not-so-exciting screening. Commissioners will be evaluated by the Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (aka JURI), which is charged with assessing potential conflicts of interest, before the relevant policy committees start their more wide-ranging hearings. The panel has pretty wide scope when it comes to financial conflicts of interest — they can even go so far as to reject a candidate if no solution to a conflict can be found. When it comes to non-financial matters, potential issues can be flagged for the relevant committees to consider. 
“We don’t play politics,” JURI chair Ilhan Kyuchyuk told reporters in Strasbourg on Wednesday. “Our aim at this particular phase is that we check potential conflicts of interest.”
What commissioners have to share: Wannabe commissioners fill out declarations themselves in a good old-fashioned form. It includes, for example, information related to previous employers, details about shares in companies and other assets, and involvement with think tanks, political parties or NGOs. The details are here, for the curious. Oh, and since 2018 the declaration also applies to partners and their young children (but not other family members).
Is that enough? Amélie Bellezza, head of business ethics and EU financial interests protection at the Lorraine law faculty in France, was kind enough to send us no less than seven pages of notes on EU laws about conflict of interest. In short: the notion of what is a conflict of interest is wide enough to cover even the dodgiest behavior. 
But for lobbying scrutinizers like Corporate Europe Observatory, the problem is not about the rules but their enforcement. “The process is very frustrating as it’s never as detailed and as effective as it should be,” said Vicky Cann, its president. “MEPs are given a minute to question [commissioners] and it just feels like such a waste of opportunity.” 
Process and timing: When the confirmation formally begins (it hasn’t yet), JURI members will get a stack of declarations from all 26 commissioners. They’ll have 24 to 48 hours to go through them. Then members will meet for a marathon session to consider each declaration. Straightforward ones can be settled by consensus. But if MEPs have concerns or questions, they can ask the nominee for more details in writing — or even call them for in-person questioning. (These JURI deliberations take place behind closed doors.)
In recent cycles, the assessments have been completed in two batches: the simple ones are finished during a first meeting, while more complicated cases require a follow-up. 
What if commissioner candidates lie? Well, the incentive not to lie is that doing so would risk losing your job. “If there is something wrong on their declaration,” said Kyuchyuk, a Bulgarian Renew MEP, “it’s up to their political conviction. It’s up to their moral[s]. It’s up to the judicial system.”
Investigative work. MEPs rely on the information contained in the commissioner’s declaration. Whether they go beyond what’s written and do any additional research is totally up to each individual lawmaker. 
While they can look for publicly available information — and ask candidates for more details or even call them in for questioning — JURI members don’t have the power to fully investigate or demand private documents. (Corporate Europe Observatory has also compiled a list of those who don’t pass the test, according to the NGO’s standards.)
Tough road ahead:  We’ve also compiled our own list of 5 commissioners who may struggle in front of MEPs. They are:
🇭🇺 Olivér Várhelyi
🇸🇮 Marta Kos 
🇧🇪 Hadja Lahbib
🇧🇬 Ekaterina Zaharieva
🇲🇹 Glenn Micallef
A new addition to that list is … Portuguese commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque who can anticipate questions over revolving-door accusations about her move from Portugal’s finance ministry to a London finance firm in 2015. More on that, and on Albuquerque generally, in this profile from my ace colleagues Kathryn Carlson and Aitor Hernández-Morales.
Fun game. Once the commissioners are done with JURI, they’re ready to be grilled in public on their actual agenda and competencies. The fun fact is that the same MEPs who are supposed to be the watchdogs against conflict of interest are themselves heavily lobbied to ask questions pushed by corporate groups, one lobbyist told us. 
Transparency moment: “At the moment, the biggest job for lobbyists is to be mentioned at hearings to understand a commissioner’s position on his or her sector or to find out more about his or her agenda,” said Paul Varakas, president of the public affairs professionals association SEAP. He jokingly said that it should be pretty easy to retrace who lobbied whom if MEPs actually declare their own agenda or even conflict of interest!
We always ask public affairs professionals about their techniques to get closer to new lawmakers, commissioners and public servants. There is of course the ‘accidentally’ meet in the elevator move. Here are some more — all moral judgment pushed aside.
1. Buying drinks. Two lobbyists told us a good technique is to spot some young and naive parliamentary assistants at youth political parties and offer them one drink, then another one, and another. And then ask them for a favor. 
2. Involving your child. It’s an interesting (and niche) technique but apparently putting your baby in a Danish kindergarten helps you get along with MEPs, and one lobbyist bragged about doing just that during job interviews.
3. Choose your flight carefully. At the end of a Strasbourg session, a not-too-early flight to Madrid is a good way to find yourself sitting next to a bunch of Spanish lawmakers.
BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE BIG REPORT. The full list of people who contributed to Mario Draghi’s report and with whom he and his team have spoken to over the past year was published this week, my colleague Giovanna Faggionato spotted. They include Laurence Boone, a French economist and former advisor to Emmanuel Macron; Fiona Scott Morton, the U.S. competition economist whose appointment to an EU job caused controversy; and John Van Reenen, chosen by U.K. Chancellor Rachel Reeves as chair of her advisory council. Draghi or his team met with, among others, 22 economists, some 80 companies — from the railway company Alstom to Google — plus 12 think tanks, 9 NGOs, and a handful of advisory groups.
But, but, but. It immediately triggered a strong response from NGOs. “The predominance of corporate influence in the drafting of the report raises significant concerns among civil society organisations about the undue impact of corporate power over the next EU legislature,” according to a statement from Corporate Europe Observatory and Lobby Control, two NGOs involved in transparency and public affairs scrutiny. “Over the 236 contributions received, 157 were made by corporate organisations,” they added. In comparison, NGOs, trade unions, and consumer and patient organizations represent only 5 percent of the submissions received (just 12 submissions).
BYE TITI. After Thierry Breton’s bombshell resignation, French officials are bemoaning a loss of influence in Brussels. But so are the lobbyists from French companies, who saw Breton as a close ally who understood them and even pushed for their own interests, we’re told. Want to talk about how much you miss Breton? Please reach out!
NEW ERA, NEW RULES. New commissioners, their cabinets and directors-general need to be updated quickly on lobbying rules. Von der Leyen will extend to “all managers” the requirements of the Transparency Register, which include the obligation to meet only with lobbyists who are on the register and to publish lists of meetings held with those lobbyists (a maximum of two weeks after the meeting), as first spotted by lobbying expert Jean Conte. In addition, Maroš Šefčovič will conduct by mid-2025 a review of the register, which was already reviewed by the European Court of Auditors last year — it had mixed feelings. 
OLAF IS LOOKING FOR A NEW BOSS. The anti-fraud office OLAF has started the paperwork to find a new boss. Current president Ville Itälä’s mandate ends next July and a job description is already available here. 
OMBUDSMAN CORNER. The European Union’s ethics watchdog has decided to open an investigation into the European Commission’s overhaul of its farm policy amid farmers’ protests. My colleagues from Morning Agri have more.
Festa de aniversário: Since its foundation in 2009, Portuguese EU affairs consultancy Eupportunity has established itself as the premier lobby for Lisbon’s interests in Brussels, focused on the application for funds (or EUPI, hence the firm’s nickname). This week the group is celebrating its 15th anniversary (and having a proper celebration next Tuesday). Given Portugal’s recent conquest of some of the Bubble’s most powerful posts (with António Costa to be European Council chief), it’s safe to say that founder Henrique Burnay and his staff have quietly but successfully found ways into every room they need to be in – and then some, my colleague Aitor Hernández-Morales reports. Beyond the Lisbon crowd, Burnay’s firm is popular with the EPP, especially within the European Parliament.
— UK Conservative Party advisor lobbied for firm founded by Russian oligarchs (OCCRP)
— Drug firms finance Europe’s patient groups with multi-million donations (Investigative Europe)
— Biden administration unveils new evidence of RT’s key role in Russian intelligence operations globally (CNN)
CONSULTANCY
Fernanda Lopez Tolsa has been promoted to senior consultant at APCO.
Siniona Kessai and Christoph Baumann have been promoted to senior consultant at Forward Global.
Justine Collard has joined Forward Global as a consultant from the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the EU.
The Methanol Institute (MI) has a new team to lead its European operations from its Brussels office, with Tim Eestermans as managing director Europe; Richard Burchill as director for research strategy and knowledge exchange Europe; and Rik Servais as director for government affairs and institutional strategy Europe
DIPLOMACY
Treasa Cadogan has started as policy officer at Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs in Brussels. She previously worked as climate change outreach and coordination officer at the United Nations in Fiji.
EU INSTITUTIONS
After almost four years as technical secretary at the Commission’s Joint Research Center in Spain, Carlos Javoer Muñoz Crespo has moved to Brussels where he’ll be working at the DG for Environment.
The European Commission’s Mina Andreeva (a POLITICO 28 alum) will join Parliament President Roberta Metsola’s team to work on strategic comms.
Tim Rühlig joined the EU Institute for Security Studies as senior analyst for the Global China portfolio. He was previously a China fellow at the Commission’s IDEA advisory service, focusing on tech and innovation.
ENERGY
The European Initiative for Energy Security appointed Petya Barzilska to lead policy development. She was previously the sovereign eesearch lead at ISS ESG.
After a short ride as Uber’s EU public policy senior associate, Hugues de Maupeou joined Google’s Government Affairs and Public Policy team as privacy policy manager in Brussels.
Un grand merci à: EU Influence alumni Sarah Wheaton, Aitor Hernández-Morales, Barbara Moens, Šejla Ahmatović, my editor Paul Dallison and Aphex Twin.
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