This week’s key events presented by Euronews’ editor in chief for EU policy, Jeremy Fleming-Jones.
Key diary dates
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Monday 26 August: Ministers for Europe from Austria, Croatia and Romania participate in a panel on European Strategic Sovereignty during the Europe in the World Days at Forum Alpbach in Austria
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Tuesday 26 August: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meets French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris
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Friday30 August: Deadline for submission of nominations for Commissioners by member states
In spotlight
When Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meets French President Emmanuel Macron today (26 August) in Paris, France’s role in the new Commission will be under discussion.
At least the fraught issue of member states ignoring von der Leyen’s request for countries to make male and female nominations will not likely arise. Von der Leyen made clear that this should not apply to countries where the sitting Commissioner is renominated, which is the case for France’s Thierry Breton.
Von der Leyen is unlikely to finalise specific roles until all countries have nominated – the deadline is looming at the end of this week, and several are yet to confirm a choice, as our tracker shows.
Nevertheless the pair are likely to land on some key elements of Breton’s future job. It would be surprising if he did not continue in a role with a broad digital remit. Breton has become strongly associated with EU efforts to corral the global digital giants through the Digital Services Act. August was marked by his spicy war of words with US tech mogul Elon Musk. The arrest of Telegram’s Pavel Durov in France over the weekend might also feature in the discussion on tech. Stripping Breton of his tech role might look like a retreat by the EU executive, though as we reported last week, other nominees offer von der Leyen options when she comes to divvy up the digital roles in her new team.
Nor is the new commission likely to be the sole topic of conversation in Paris today. With France still in limbo as it awaits a fresh government, von der Leyen will be keen to gauge French engagement at European level over the next critical few months during her nascent second term.
In this context, with the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts broiling, security and defence will also be on the agenda as von der Leyen attempts to bring these more within the Commission’s ambit against the backdrop of a critical US election, in which the Republican nominee has raised doubts about the continued reliability of the US as Europe’s security guarantor.
That issue will also be discussed by Europe ministers from Austria, Croatia and Romania today during the Forum Alpbach Europe in Austria.
Policy newsmakers
Musk/Breton renew X-combat
X owner Elon Musk and Commissioner Thierry Breton renewed hostilities in August. Back in July, after the European Commission announced that X, formerly known as Twitter, had breached elements of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) the tech magnate threatened legal action, claiming the EU executive tried to make an “illegal secret deal” with X over compliance with new EU rules to prevent online misinformation. “Be our guest, Elon Musk,” Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton replied at the time, denying any secret deal. The spat ratcheted up a notch in August after Breton fired off a letter to Musk ahead of his staging an extended interview on his platform with former US president Donald Trump. Breton’s letter reminded Musk to comply with legal obligations under the EU’s digital rulebook, but Musk replied to Breton’s X post citing a quip from the US satirical film Tropic Thunder, inviting the Commissioner “to take a step back and literally, fuck your own face.”
