Brussels Playbook: Putin gives speech — While his men waltz into Vienna — And Brexit talks enter endgame

Опубликовано: Tuesday, 21 February 2023 05:08

Presented by Novo Nordisk

By JAKOB HANKE VELA

PRESENTED BY

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DRIVING THE DAY: RUSSIA’S WAR

PUTIN SET TO GIVE BIG SPEECH: EU leaders will today have their eyes fixed on Moscow, where President Vladimir Putin is set to give what his propaganda channels are advertising as a major speech at 10 a.m. CET. State television has been counting down to the address — Putin’s first state of the nation speech since 2021.

It comes on the heels of U.S. President Joe Biden’s historic visit Monday to Kyiv, where he underlined America’s “unwavering support” for Ukraine’s “independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Will Putin further escalate the situation? There are indications that Putin may make some sort of new announcement. The two chambers of the Russian parliament will hold unscheduled sessions on Wednesday, which could be used to rubberstamp any decision, followed by a large rally and concert in Moscow.

Evoking the past to defend the present: Russia-observers will be listening to see if Putin continues his trend of trying to invoke past Russian victories like during World War II to defend the invasion amid setbacks in Ukraine. (More from Eva Hartog here on how Putin has been attempting to sell his war at home.)

EU reactions: NATO Sec Gen Jens Stoltenberg and EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell have scheduled a joint press conference with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at 12:45 p.m. today, which may be when we hear the first EU and NATO reactions to Putin’s speech.

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AS CHINA’S WANG EXPECTED IN MOSCOW: China’s top diplomat and politburo member Wang Yi is expected to meet Putin ahead of the anniversary of Russia’s brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine on Friday. “The agenda is clear and very extensive, so there is a lot to talk about,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday. Russian state news agency TASS on Monday reported that Wang may already have arrived in Moscow.

Weapons risk: EU officials on Monday confirmed American concerns that China is preparing to ramp up its support to Russia by potentially sending weapons and ammunition, on top of the dual-use goods its state-owned companies are already providing.

Two EU diplomats on Monday told Playbook they shared Washington’s assessment, while a Chinese government spokesman said the U.S. was in “no position to tell China what to do,” and urged Washington to stop “spreading disinformation” without actually denying the accusation.

Speaking after a meeting of EU foreign ministers Monday, Germany’s Annalena Baerbock said she had told her Chinese counterpart Wang that China “must not send weapons — including dual-use goods — to Russia.”

Borrell said China would be crossing a “red line” if it sends arms to Russia.

Beijing hits back: China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang said early this morning that Beijing is “deeply worried” the Ukraine conflict could spiral out of control and argued certain countries must stop “fuelling the fire,” Reuters reports.

WATCH OUT FOR NEW EU SANCTIONS WATCHDOG: The Netherlands wants the EU to get serious about sanctions circumvention — by creating a centralized EU watchdog. “This new HQ would establish a watch list of sectors and trade flows with a high circumvention risk,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra on Monday, arguing that the EU currently has “too little capacity to analyze, coordinate and promote new sanctions.”

The new agency should not just “pool information and resources on effectiveness and evasion,” but help EU law enforcement agencies to prosecute countries and entities that are circumventing sanctions, Hoekstra said in a speech at the College of Europe in Bruges.

Big countries on board: Judging by the list of countries that are backing the Dutch proposal, the sanctions HQ seems to have a good chance to become a reality: Some 10 EU countries have already signed up to a Dutch paper spelling out the proposal, including Germany, France, Italy and Spain, POLITICO’s Gregorio Sorgi reports.

NOW READ THIS: Western sanctions didn’t stop the war. Were they worth it? Barbara Moens and Leonie Kijewski report more on the EU’s painfully slow-acting sanctions, which Borrell has called “a slow-action poison, a little bit like arsenic.”

ALSO TODAY: BREXIT BRIEFING

BRACING FOR A DEAL: European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič will brief European affairs ministers meeting today in Brussels, amid speculation that a deal on the Brexit deal’s protocol for trade with Northern Ireland is in the offing, POLITICO’s Suzanne Lynch reports.

Recap: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a last-minute dash to Belfast on Friday and met with Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in Munich Saturday, signaling he would bring a deal to the British Cabinet today.

Reading the runes: But Sunak is facing backlash from some in his own party, not least former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who argues that the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill — the controversial legislation introduced by the British government last year — should not be dropped (the intention was that a deal on the vexed issue of the protocol would override the necessity for the legislation, which the EU has blasted as a breach of international law).

My colleagues in London have more here on what’s at stake for Sunak politically as the prospect of a deal looms.

On standby: Šefčovič spoke with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris on Monday via video link. The trio agreed to meet later in the week, with all 27 EU ambassadors on standby for a possible meeting to give a sign-off to any deal. When that might take place is now the key question.

PUTIN’S MEN DANCE IN AUSTRIA

RUSSIAN MPs WALTZ INTO VIENNA: As previously reported in Playbook, a meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will take place at the end of the week in Vienna, including on the day of the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine — with 18 Russian MPs on the guest list.

Waltz the talk: To give the Putin men a proper welcome, the Austrian far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) has invited the Russian officials to its annual ball on February 24, in the same Vienna Palace where the OSCE meeting is taking place.

All eyes on Vienna: Austria will start issuing visas to the Russian delegation today — a “total disgrace,” a senior EU diplomat told my colleague Nicolas Camut. “It seems that Vienna, a homeland of so many prominent composers, has turned tone deaf,” said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

18 to tango: The 18 members of the Russian delegation, led by the Russian Duma’s deputy speaker, Pyotr Tolstoy, are all under sanctions from the European Union.

No comment: The FPÖ’s Viennese section did not reply to a request for comment.

The date is ‘very unfortunate,’ Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told Playbook, arguing his country was bound by its status as OSCE host to invite delegations from all member states.

END OF AUSTRIAN GEMÜTLICHKEIT: A group of about 100 Austrian intellectuals, politicians and other public figures, including author Robert Menasse and EU Parliament VP Othmar Karas, are calling on the country to abandon what many consider to be an immoral stance on the war in Ukraine, my colleague Matt Karnitschnig reports.

Austria, which has been neutral since 1955, has refused to send weapons to Ukraine and, its critics say, continued to curry favor with Moscow. “Austria acts as if the world had stopped on February 23, 2022,” the open letter reads. “Our security position is internationally ridiculed by some, and perceived as spineless by others.”

BORDERS BACK IN EUROPE

MEP URGES COMMISSION TO ENFORCE BORDER-FREE SCHENGEN RULES: EU citizens crossing into Denmark from Germany, or traveling to France from any EU country, are facing lengthy passport controls and other border checks — even though borders were in theory abolished under the Schengen rules that those countries signed up to.

Brussels has so far accepted the justifications put forward by France, Denmark and other countries that the re-introduction of a border is “temporary” and due to exceptional dangers.

A new legal opinion says such checks are illegal: Denmark’s border controls restrict the free movement of EU citizens and are against EU law, two lawyers from the Europa University in Flensburg argue in an opinion commissioned by Green MEP Rasmus Andresen. The lawyers say Denmark’s controls are “disproportionate” to the vague and unsubstantiated alleged dangers cited by the government.

Define temporary: Denmark’s “temporary” re-introduction of a border has been in force for seven years now, while France’s effective abolition of Schengen rules for all internal borders as well as sea and air travel has also been in force since 2015.

Germany has shown more restraint, but has also introduced checks along its border with Austria, while Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Austria have also applied “temporary” exemptions.

Is the Commission turning a blind eye? “For years, the EU Commission has accepted this breach of law and the dismantling of our freedom,” MEP Andresen told Playbook. “Commission President von der Leyen is obliged to enforce EU law,” he said, adding Brussels should “not shy away” from launching infringement procedures against those countries.

A Commission spokesperson said that “reintroducing border controls must remain exceptional, strictly limited in time and a measure of last resort,” adding that Brussels is “working closely” with member states to “address long-lasting reintroductions of controls at internal borders.”

**POLITICO Europe’s Chief Brussels Correspondent, Suzanne Lynch, will interview Teresa Ribera, vice president and minister for the ecological transition and demographic challenge of Spain, and Ylva Johansson, EU commissioner for home affairs, on March 8. Join us to discuss what it means to be a women leader nowadays at #POLITICOIWD. Register today!**

QATARGATE UPDATE

OLAF WANTS IN AMID QATARGATE RETHINK: As the European Parliament tussles over how to better police itself amid the Qatargate cash-for-influence scandal, Ville Itälä, the head of the European Anti-Fraud Office, known as OLAF, told POLITICO that EU lawmakers are ignoring the obvious — OLAF.

Right there all along: The agency already enjoys full access in Brussels to probe fraud and corruption among the thousands-strong EU civil service — everyone from mid-level staffers to European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen. It can even hand over evidence of criminal behavior to other authorities.

Exception, Parliament: But when it comes to the Parliament, while OLAF can investigate, its jurisdiction often stops at the door front. No access to offices. No looking at laptops. “We have the access to the Commission president’s office and IT but not to MEPs,” Itälä bemoaned in an interview with POLITICO. “The Parliament doesn’t let us have this access.”

Jacopo Barigazzi has the full story.

IN OTHER NEWS

NEW EARTHQUAKES HIT TURKEY, SYRIA: More earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria on Monday afternoon, just two weeks after one of the worst earthquakes in the region’s history, which killed more than 45,000 people, most of them in Turkey.

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit the region on Monday, followed by a second of magnitude 5.8. Three more people were killed and 213 injured, according to Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu. Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that six people were injured in Aleppo and the White Helmets, northwest Syria’s civil defense organization, reported more than 130 injuries.

Erdoğan pledges quick reconstruction: During a visit to the affected region, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said his government would begin the construction of some 200,000 new homes as early as next month and the new buildings will be no taller than three or four stories, erected on firmer ground and in consultation with “geophysics, geotechnical, geology and seismology professors.”

TURKEY GETS ANOTHER F-16 PROMISE … Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that it is a “national interest and security interest” for the Biden administration to upgrade Turkey’s current F-16 fleet and provide new warplanes to its NATO ally, after talks with his counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Ankara. Çavuşoğlu said he discussed a planned $20 billion deal for the aircraft with Blinken.

… BUT SEES NO LINK BETWEEN NATO EXPANSION AND DEFENSE DEAL: Blinken also called for Sweden and Finland to quickly be able to join NATO, even though Çavuşoğlu dismissed the possibility of linking their accession and Turkey’s request for F-16s.

“We’re confident that NATO will formally welcome them in soon,” Blinken said. “And when that happens, it will enhance the security of every NATO member, including the United States, including Turkey.”

“It would not be right or fair to make two independent issues — the two countries’ NATO membership and the purchase of F-16s — conditional on each other,” Çavuşoğlu replied, repeating Turkey’s position that it would be willing to approve Finland joining NATO before Sweden.

JÁN AND MARTINA WEEK: Today marks five years since the murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová in 2018. The media organization where Kuciak worked — actuality.sk — is organizing a week of discussions, events and screenings as a tribute to both. “We need to remember that Ján Kuciak was killed because he wanted to reveal the mafia connections to the highest levels of Slovakian politics — but killing the messenger doesn’t mean that you kill the message,” Commission VP Věra Jourová told Playbook reporter Ketrin Jochecová.

Media freedom act: On a trip to Bratislava, Jourová also discussed the European Media Freedom Act — a law meant to bolster media freedoms that she is proposing and which “could be called the Kuciak Act,” she said. Jourová said both the murder of Kuciak and Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 “were a wake-up call for Europe.”

The Commission’s proposal aims to protect media pluralism and the safety of journalists. It still must go through the European Parliament and the Council to be finalized.

AGENDA

— General Affairs Council. Arrivals and doorsteps at 8:30 a.m., press conference by the Swedish Council of the EU presidency and the European Commission at 2 p.m. Watch.

— NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg meets top EU diplomat Josep Borrell and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Joint press conference at 12:45 p.m. Watch.

— Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans delivers introductory remarks at NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly Joint Political Committee Meeting in Brussels.

— Reporters Without Borders, the European Federation of Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Transparency International will hold a vigil for Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová outside the Residence Palace in Brussels at 1 p.m.

— Press briefing by the European Parliament’s committee of inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware, in Budapest at 2 p.m. Watch.

— Euronest Parliamentary Assembly session. Press conference at 11:30 a.m. Watch.

— Commissioners Margaritis Schinas and Mariya Gabriel receive the President of the European Olympic Committees Spyros Capralos.

— Commissioner Kadri Simson receives President and CEO of Siemens Energy Christian Bruch.

— Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski is in Washington: Meets EU Ambassador to the U.S. Stavros Lambrinidis.

BRUSSELS CORNER

SON OF IRAN’S LAST SHAH TO COME TO BRUSSELS: Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah and a prominent critic of the current regime, will be in Brussels next Tuesday. “It is in the interest of both the EU and the Iranian people to get a new regime in Tehran and as a first and necessary step we should proscribe the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps],” said MEP Charlie Weimers, who will host Pahlavi as he delivers a speech at the European Parliament.

It comes after 6,000 people from the Iranian diaspora and allies marched through Brussels on Monday, demanding democratic rights and more freedom for women in Iran as well as for Europe to recognize the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

BIRTHDAYS: MEPs Christophe Hansen, Stanislav Polčák and Jan-Christoph Oetjen; King of Norway Harald V; Daniel Ek, Spotify founder and CEO and POLITICO 28 alum.

THANKS TO: Nicolas Camut, Matt Karnitschnig, Suzanne Lynch, Nektaria Stamouli, Playbook reporter Ketrin Jochecová, editor Emma Anderson and our producer Grace Stranger.

**A message from Novo Nordisk: Novo Nordisk integrated the ‘triple bottom line’ principle into our articles of association in 2004. We were the first pharmaceutical company to source 100% renewable power in all our global production facilities – and we require all our suppliers to source 100% renewable power by 2030. In 2022, we served almost 40 million patients globally, including close to 5.5 million through our access and affordability initiatives. The controlling stake in Novo Nordisk is owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, meaning we have a long-term commitment to life sciences in Europe. EU framework conditions have a major impact on our sector’s competitiveness, and our ability to achieve our environmental and social goals. In 2023, EU policymakers will work on revising the Union’s pharmaceutical legislation. Now is the time to make medicines Europe’s future, not just its past.**