Welcome to this long-weekend edition of Rapporteur, with in-depth reporting and analysis from our newsroom. We’ll be back to our regular rhythm on Wednesday.
This is Nicoletta Ionta, with Eddy Wax in Brussels.
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From the capital
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will hold talks at noon with Parliament chief Roberta Metsola and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a last-ditch effort to defuse an institutional standoff before it erupts.
On Sunday afternoon, the Commission unveiled tweaks to its own budget proposal in a bid to head off a parliamentary revolt. Parliament had threatened to reject the plan to merge agriculture and regional funds unless it was rewritten.
The €865 billion package – viewed as shifting power to Brussels and national capitals – has enraged farmers, regions, and lawmakers who say they’ve been sidelined.
To appease critics, the Commission floated a new “rural target,” requiring governments to allocate 10% of the flexible portion of their plans to agriculture, and to give regional leaders a greater say in how the money is spent. It also suggested granting Parliament a stronger role in shaping EU public spending – a key MEP demand.
Whether those legal changes will fly with EU capitals is another question. In a meeting on Friday, ambassadors reaffirmed their control over the file, warning that only the Council’s ”negotiation box” for leaders can make substantive changes and should not be influenced by other institutions, three diplomats told my colleague Jacob Wulff Wold. “There’s a risk here of the perfect storm,” one said.
That the Commission blinked at all is seen as a win for Parliament, and the tweaks go further than many expected. But they remain patches on a framework MEPs loathe, and few may be ready to lay down their pitchforks.
COP30 kicks off in Belém
This morning, the two-week climate talks – which the Brazilians say should embody a spirit of Mutirão (togetherness) – kick off in the town of Belém. Journalists on the ground are likely looking at the sweltering heat outside, the freezing cold inside, and possibly the aftermath of their yellow fever shots – together.
For negotiators, it’s not going to be smooth sailing, either. Simmering feuds in global climate policy – COP28 was too ambitious on phasing out fossil fuels, COP29 didn’t see rich nations cough up enough cash, some nations say – are just waiting to spill over.
Heading into COP30, the EU itself is more divided than in previous years. Its climate ministers have just come out of a gruelling fight over the bloc’s mid-term ambition – and they disagree on how brash they should appear. Get a head start on COP30 with my colleague Nikolaus J. Kurmayer’s curtain-raiser.
Attempt to rebalance EU staff
The European Commission quietly agreed to new hiring guidelines last week designed to address the deep imbalance in the national mix of its staff. EU rules state that its 30,000-strong civil service must be drawn from the “broadest possible” geographical pool.
But 15 out of the 27 EU countries are underrepresented, while some – like Italy (about 15% of the Commission’s main workforce), or Belgium (13.5%) – are overrepresented. Countries like Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands – which would love to have more of their own compatriots in influential positions in Brussels – have spent three years clamouring for the Commission to act.
Under new “implementation guidelines,” published Thursday, the Commission can tell DGs choosing between two equally capable candidates to pick someone from a less represented country.
Still, the measures don’t go as far as other institutions. Parliament, for example, is holding recruitment drives only open to certain underrepresented nationalities, like Austrian and Luxembourgish civil servants. That approach has sparked legal action from Spain and Italy, who argue the practice runs counter to the merit-based DNA of the hiring rules.
Sin industries blame game
Behind closed doors, the industry captains running Europe’s “sin” consumer products – alcohol, tobacco, unhealthy food, and sugary drinks – are locked in a fierce battle over who should face higher EU taxes first.
The Commission is reviewing taxation on health-harming products to both raise revenue and advance public health goals. My colleagues Brenda Strohmaier and Sarantis Michalopoulos explain why the discussions have quickly turned into a tug-of-war, with each sector trying to deflect attention onto the others.
Brussels to hit ‘refresh’ on data protection
Plans by the EU to trim back its tomes of legislation could very well help tech companies grab much more data to train artificial intelligence – but that also poses a massive privacy problem.
A leaked draft of the European Commission’s so-called digital simplification package – part of its broader Digital Omnibus agenda – suggests that what was once billed as a few targeted tweaks could end up making deep cuts to the EU’s landmark General Data Protection Regulation. My colleagues Claudie Moreau and Natasha Lomas have more.
Inside the alliance
Former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s new memoir, On My Watch, lifts the lid on a decade at the helm of the Western military alliance, revealing how Washington choreographed almost every step, from headline politics like defence-spending targets to the nerdiest technical tweaks of NATO’s machinery. My colleague Aurélie Pugnet read it all, so you don’t have to, and has all the details here.
Sow it goes
Representatives from around the world will meet in Lima, Peru, at the end of November for final talks on renewing the FAO’s International Seed Treaty – the agreement that governs seed access, exchange, and benefit sharing.
One key sticking point, according to negotiators, is that very little money currently flows back to the farmers and countries preserving biodiversity. My colleague Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro explains why breaking a decade-long deadlock is likely to be a tough challenge.
The capitals
PARIS 🇫🇷
A decisive week begins at the National Assembly, where lawmakers must adopt the Social Security Financing Bill by midnight on 12 November. The most contentious measure – Article 45 – would delay the 2023 pension reform. If rejected, the fragile non-censure pact between the Socialist Party and PM Sébastien Lecornu could collapse, putting the government’s survival at risk.
ROME 🇮🇹
Italy’s largest trade union has called a general strike for 12 December to protest against the government’s draft 2026 budget, which union leader Maurizio Landini described as “unfair and wrong”. The union has denounced cuts to public healthcare, limited funding for schools, and social services. Giorgia Meloni mocked the timing of the strike, noting that it falls on a Friday. Landini responded promptly: “Those who strike lose a day’s pay. They don’t take a long weekend.”
MADRID 🇪🇸
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia will visit China from 11 to 13 November – their first state visit since 2007. The King is due to meet President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, accompanied by Spain’s foreign and economy ministers, on a trip focused on trade and investment. Madrid hopes to deepen economic ties as it marks 20 years of its “strategic partnership” with Beijing, even as the EU adopts a more assertive stance towards China.
WARSAW 🇵🇱
As Poland marks Independence Day on Tuesday, President Karol Nawrocki and PM Donald Tusk are expected to keep their distance. Following separate schedules that will allow them to avoid appearing together, both are likely to deliver speeches featuring veiled criticisms of each other. The day will culminate in the annual Independence March, organised by far-right groups – a controversial event that has often drawn extremists from across Europe and sparked violent clashes requiring police intervention.
BRATISLAVA 🇸🇰
Tensions with Brussels are mounting after Slovakia approved constitutional changes asserting the primacy of national law in cultural and ethical matters. Robert Fico said on Friday he had been informed that the European Commission may launch infringement proceedings, prompting him to call an emergency “battle meeting”. His coalition is set to meet on Monday to plan for 17 November – the former Velvet Revolution holiday – amid looming anti-government protests.
Schuman roundabout
CORRECTION: Friday’s edition of Rapporteur has been updated to clarify that EU Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho was represented by Director of Administration Marie-Pierre Darchy at the budgetary control meeting. It also misspelled the name of her former secretary-general, Ian Harden.
Also on Euractiv
Opinion: Putin’s nuclear blackmail betrays fear and insecurity
In his latest op-ed, Euractiv columnist Konstantin Eggert offers a simple rule of thumb for Russia-watchers: when the Kremlin starts talking about nuclear weapons and cutting-edge military technology, it usually means things are going bad elsewhere, as is the case with its assault on Ukraine.
Eggert – a Vilnius-based journalist with DW and former editor-in-chief of the BBC Russian Service’s Moscow bureau – argues that Vladimir Putin has turned to nuclear blackmail to remind Washington, which shows little inclination to engage with him, of his own importance.
Agenda
📍 Von der Leyen, Metsola, and Danish PM Mette Frederiksen hold talks on the next MFF
📍 COP30 in Belém, Brazil
📍 EU-CELAC Summit takes place in Santa Marta, Colombia, with Commissioners Ribera and Kallas in attendance
📍 Commissioner Hansen hosts the Implementation Dialogue on EU organic policy
📍 Commissioner Serafin leads an Implementation Dialogue on the review of the EU anti-fraud architecture
Contributors: Jacob Wulff Wold, Nikolaus J. Kurmayer, Angelo di Mambro, Aurélie Pugnet, Claudie Moreau, Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro, Natasha Lomas, Brenda Strohmaier, Sarantis Michalopoulos, Inés Fernández-Pontes, Laurent Geslin, Martina Monti, Barbara Zmuskova, Aleksandra Krzysztoszek
Editors: Victoria Becker, Joshua Posaner, Christina Zhao
