Subject: The Brief: Tusk will be elephant outside EU summit room
From: EurActiv <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2017 15:55:57 +0000

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    <http://eurac.tv/71ii?sid=33541>    Today's EU policy news,
08.03.2017, 5PM

       = Tusk will be elephant outside EU summit room =

      === By  James Crisp <http://eurac.tv/71l3?sid=33541> ===

 The one nailed-on certainty about tomorrow’s EU summit is that Donald
Tusk will still be European Council president on Friday.

 Poland’s Prime Minister Beata Szydlo has put forward little-known MEP
Jacek Saryusz-Wolski as a rival  candidate to Tusk
<http://eurac.tv/71ia?sid=33541>. The expected rubber-stamping of Tusk’s
presidency is in doubt.

 The odds are stacked against the rebellious Poles, who only have Hungary
in their corner. There is, after all, no other candidate being seriously
considered.

 But even if they manage to unseat their former prime minister on Thursday,
Donald will only be packing his bags in May at the earliest.

 The tilt at Tusk is unprecedented, one senior EU diplomat said. There are
a lot of theories flying around, the diplomat added, including whispers of
the Polish ambassador taking a fictional phone call at the meeting to stall
the process.

 “No one knows what the Poles will do,” the diplomat added, “but
there is a strong degree of support for Tusk.”

 Other diplomats said they expected Tusk to be re-appointed by the EU
leaders. No discussion of Saryusz-Wolski's candidacy is planned.

 “Saryusz-Wolski is an unknown to the quasi-totality of heads of
states,” one diplomat intoned.  “It is an implicit quality to have
been a member of the European Council before taking the presidency.”

 The elephant himself will not be in the room because Tusk will step
outside during the negotiations.

 European Council presidents are meant to be appointed by consensus. So
what do you do with a problem like Poland?

 If Szydlo sticks to her guns, member states, keen to resolve the matter
tomorrow night, could force a vote and sacrifice the much cherished
consensus method.

 There is a precedent for this. Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron and
Hungary’s Viktor Orban were overruled 26-2 in a vote on  Jean-Claude
Juncker’s appointment <http://eurac.tv/71i-?sid=33541> as  European
Commission president <http://eurac.tv/71iV?sid=33541>.

 Sources said the Cameron option was on the table but the preference is
that all 28 member states back Tusk.

 On Friday, leaders of the EU-27 will discuss plans for the 25 March
celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome.
The intention is to show a united front.

 But if those same leaders have isolated and overuled Poland less than 24
hours previously, all the fine words planned about post-Brexit unity will
ring hollow.

      == The Roundup ==

 It was a busy day for senior EU diplomats. One whispered that Article 50
would be triggered after the Rome Summit but before the end of the month.

 Berlin is still worrying the Commission with its hopes of setting up an
IMF-style ‘European monetary fund <http://eurac.tv/71ij?sid=33541>’ and
the Polish government is trying to give its parliament bigger
influence over the judiciary <http://eurac.tv/71ik?sid=33541>.

 The EPP wants a vision of multi-speed Europe “that delivers”
<http://eurac.tv/71il?sid=33541> but there are concerns it will lead to
a new West-East divide <http://eurac.tv/71im?sid=33541>.

 European Parliament Vice-President Ramon Luis Valcárcel Siso said the EU
has to counter the “big lies” <http://eurac.tv/71in?sid=33541> coming
out of Moscow and Washington, while the threat of an EU-US trade war
<http://eurac.tv/71io?sid=33541> still looms large.

 Six Eastern European countries have asked the US for help combatting
Russian interference <http://eurac.tv/71ip?sid=33541>, including
cyber-attacks, while the Council summit will discuss third-party election
activism <http://eurac.tv/71iq?sid=33541> on its territory. The Turkish
government is currently campaigning in favour of constitutional reform.

 The Dutch elections are next week <http://eurac.tv/71ir?sid=33541> and
the far-right Party for Freedom could emerge as the big winner, so MEPs and
local mayors from across Europe have met to discuss how to defeat
Euroscepticism <http://eurac.tv/71is?sid=33541>.

 Hungary may have won final approval from the Commission on its new nuclear
plant but it’s going to saddle Budapest with a lot more debt
<http://eurac.tv/71it?sid=33541>.

 EU consumer agencies are going to seek compensation for drivers
that bought VW cars <http://eurac.tv/71iu?sid=33541> with cheat devices
and Barcelona is going to ban old cars
<http://eurac.tv/71iv?sid=33541> from its streets in an effort to curb air
pollution.

 A new project hopes to increase female participation
<http://eurac.tv/71iw?sid=33541> in Brussels’ expert panels, which are
often dubbed "manels".

      == Look out for... ==

 It’s  European Council day <http://eurac.tv/71mb?sid=33541> in Brussels
tomorrow. On the agenda is Tusk’s future, the Western Balkans, a touch of
trade, a mite of migration, and a dab of defence.

 *Views are the author's.*

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