Subject: The Brief: Polish psychodrama casts shadow over summit
From: EurActiv <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2017 15:57:39 +0000

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    <http://eurac.tv/73lV?sid=33541>    Today's EU policy news,
09.03.2017, 5PM

       = Polish psychodrama casts shadow over summit =

      === By  James Crisp <http://eurac.tv/73lu?sid=33541> ===

 A Polish psychodrama has cast a fratricidal shadow over today’s EU
summit. The Poles want their former Prime Minister Donald Tusk out of his
job as European Council president. So much for Solidarity.

 They are willing, it seems, to kick up  a right stink
<http://eurac.tv/73lD?sid=33541> at tonight’s meeting of EU leaders in
Brussels. Poland and the rest of the EU are, simply put, poles apart over
Tusk.

 Back in Warsaw, lurks the leader of ruling PiS party Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Crazed with grief for the loss of his twin brother in a 2010 plane crash,
for which he  holds Tusk responsible <http://eurac.tv/73lE?sid=33541>, he
plots his vengeance.

 As far as the EU is concerned, it is pretty clear the surviving brother
was  the evil twin <http://eurac.tv/73lF?sid=33541>.

 There’s talk of Poland being willing to  torpedo the talks
<http://eurac.tv/73lG?sid=33541>. Whether this is meaningless chest-beating
remains to be seen. A letter from Poland to EU leaders seems to have only 
strengthened their resolve <http://eurac.tv/73lH?sid=33541> to keep Tusk in
post.

 Donald Tusk said yesterday  he was “ready”
<http://eurac.tv/73lI?sid=33541> to face his compatriots and tormentors in
the glitzy arena of the Council’s new  “Space Egg” building.
<http://eurac.tv/73lJ?sid=33541>

 Of course he was ready. Mutti Merkel  has his back
<http://eurac.tv/73lK?sid=33541> and the German chancellor looks after her
boys.

 As she strode, loins girded for battle, into today’s meeting of EU
leaders, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo warned, “Nothing can be done
without our agreement.”

 Beata was talking total balderdash. It’s true EU leaders would rather
back Tusk unanimously, especially as the bloc wants to look united ahead of
the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.

 But European diplomats said that Tusk could be re-elected by a qualified
majority vote of 21 to 28. Only Hungary  is supporting Poland
<http://eurac.tv/73lL?sid=33541>.

 Everyone expects that Tusk will be reconfirmed. But nothing is ever 100%
certain once leaders disappear into  their diversity-carpeted
<http://eurac.tv/73lM?sid=33541> and secluded meeting room.

 Forgotten amid the internecine warfare, was the fact that Tusk is a member
of the European People’s Party.

 In a significant break with tradition, the EPP holds the top jobs at the
Commission, Parliament and Council.

 Malta’s PM Joseph Muscat will chair tonight’s talks on Tusk. This
morning, he let slip that some socialist EU  leaders were unhappy
<http://eurac.tv/73lN?sid=33541> with the EPP’s dominance. The issue will
be discussed tonight, he said, and may make a mention in the summit's
conclusions.

 Muscat, a socialist, insists that the EPP monopoly will not influence the
outcome of the Tusk tussle.

 But tonight, outnumbered Poland could pick at that scab and open fresh
wounds in the delicate tissue of the EU’s unity.

      == The Roundup ==

 EU leaders will this evening express their  “unequivocal support” for
<http://eurac.tv/73lW?sid=33541> the European perspective of the Western
Balkans”, in an effort to head off  Russian interference in the region.

 European Parliament Vice-President Ramón Luis Valcárcel has called for a
“red button” to censor  the misogynistic tirades
<http://eurac.tv/73lX?sid=33541> and “incredible nonsense” spouted by
MEPs like  Janusz Korwin-Mikke <http://eurac.tv/73lY?sid=33541>.

 Experts warned MEPs today that curbs  on civil liberties
<http://eurac.tv/73lZ?sid=33541> in the name of security often have the
opposite effect, acting as ready-made “recruiting tools for
extremists”.

 Germany has described Russia’s deployment of  nuclear-capable missiles
<http://eurac.tv/73l_?sid=33541> to the enclave of Kaliningrad as “a blow
to European security”.

 Berlin’s  row with Ankara <http://eurac.tv/73l-?sid=33541> stepped up a
gear yesterday, with accusations of espionage and Islamophobia flying back
and forth.

 Donald Trump’s economic advisor wants to cut America’s  $65bn trade
deficit <http://eurac.tv/73m0?sid=33541> with Germany without EU
involvement. Berlin will investigate allegations the CIA has been running 
a hacking base <http://eurac.tv/73m1?sid=33541> from the US consulate in
Frankfurt.

 Deutsche Bahn’s plans for a  high-speed rail link
<http://eurac.tv/73m2?sid=33541> between Frankfurt and London may help to
woo the City’s bankers onto EU soil after Brexit.

 The journey could be faster than flying.The Commission is  betting on
biofuels <http://eurac.tv/73m3?sid=33541> to cut aviation emissions by up
to 80%.

 Romanian  MEP Daciana Sârbu <http://eurac.tv/73m4?sid=33541> told
EURACTIV the EU needs a food quality watchdog to stop companies selling
lower quality products in Eastern Europe.

 Greece  missed out on <http://eurac.tv/73m5?sid=33541> €3.1m of EU
funding to provide free fruits and vegetables for schoolchildren because it
did not ask for the money. Opposition MEPs have blamed “government
incompetence”.

 Not sure who to back in France’s presidential elections?  Take our quiz
<http://eurac.tv/73m6?sid=33541> to see which candidate suits you best.

 *Samuel White contributed to this Brief.  *

      == Look out for... ==

 EU-27 leaders will tomorrow discuss plans for the bloc’s 60th birthday
celebrations in Rome on 25 March. That is if they are still talking to each
other after tonight’s ding-dong over Donald Tusk’s reappointment as
Council president.

 *Views are the author's.*

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