BRUSSELS — A major overhaul of the EU’s executive branch has staffers worried for their livelihoods, as the bloc sets its sights on delivering value for money and doing more for less. On Tuesday, the European Commission’s TAO staff association wrote to its tens of thousands of employees in Brussels, calling on management to ensure that the voices of rank-and-file workers are heard as part of what the Commission has called an ongoing “large-scale review” of the civil service. POLITICO reported last month that the bloc’s budget and public administration chief, Piotr Serafin, has been asked to conduct the reassessment to bring about a “modern, efficient public administration to deliver on our political priorities,” while reducing both complexity “and, where possible, costs.” According to the TAO, “this change cannot come about without discussing with staff to co-build new ways of working.” The email warns “it is impossible to pave the way for a new Commission organization based on simple polls or consultations — we must therefore involve staff through its representative trade unions from the outset.” The working group responsible for the restructuring, advised by former Commission Secretary-General Catherine Day, has held a series of workshops with staff. However, internal documents obtained by POLITICO reveal they have encountered “resistance and cynicism” from colleagues, “hierarchical and rigidity issues” as well as “poor communication and engagement” compounded by a “lack of leadership.” In their notes, senior Commission officials warn the review will now have to navigate a “loss of trust” among their teams and tackle “perceived hidden agendas or lack of transparency [that] can endanger change efforts.” In a statement, a spokesperson for the Commission insisted that “staff members will be an important stakeholder throughout the review process … Staff representatives will also be engaged once the review starts in Autumn.” The push for a more streamlined administration comes as Commission President Ursula von der Leyen seeks to ensure the service can respond faster to changing geopolitical situations, with potential mergers of departments under consideration. The review’s recommendations will be delivered by the end of 2026. However, without a clear sense of which jobs — if any — could be cut or restructured, fears are growing that junior staff could be the ones bearing the brunt. “Those who have an indefinite contract have a bit less of a worry about losing their job, at least so far,” said one mid-level official granted anonymity to speak about the mood inside the Commission. “They’re more worried about losing some of their benefits or employer contributions.” “The ones who are more at risk are the ones on short-term contracts and contract agents,” the official added. “They are who we need to support right now and they don’t have representation because they are afraid of being vocal and to participate in trade unions. They tend to be like phantoms, they don’t want to be exposed so you don’t hear their voice.” According to a 2023 staffing breakdown, over a quarter of the Commission’s more than 30,000 staff are temporary or contract workers. Responsible for delivering the EU’s day-to-day administrative functions, they include researchers, lawyers, policy officers and translators.

BRUSSELS — Friedrich Merz’s arrival as German chancellor in May rekindled the fading Franco-German love affair — and the lovebirds have already found a shared interest: killing Europe’s ethical supply chain dream. Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron joined forces this month to hobble new European Union rules aimed at boosting supply chain transparency, agreeing to mutual concessions that critics say have left the bill toothless.  The bilateral deal highlights a new era for the historical Franco-German relationship focused on a sharp pro-business agenda, some argue, thanks to a budding bromance between the two leaders. Adopted last year, the EU’s supply chain oversight law requires companies to police their supply chains for possible environmental and human rights violations. But the bill has yet to be implemented, having been selected as part of a whole set of EU rules currently subject to a massive simplification effort to cut the regulatory burden for businesses.  EU countries on Monday agreed on a dramatically watered-down version of the revolutionary rules in record time. Initially presented by the European Commission in February 2022, the new version — if endorsed by the EU as a whole — will only apply to a fraction of the European companies initially targeted. The new text “is possibly one of the first policy [deliveries] that is going to be restarting the Franco-German alliance,” said Alberto Alemanno, an EU law professor at HEC Paris. Amid escalating trade tensions and geopolitical turmoil, the European Union is on a mission to reinvent itself as a prosperous, pro-business, anti-red tape powerhouse. Macron and Merz are leading the charge in that mission. “It is a first success for the Franco-German couple,” said a French economy ministry official who was granted anonymity in line with the French government’s communication practices after the agreement among EU countries was announced.  That’s because Macron, a staunchly pro-business liberal, and Merz, an equally pro-business conservative, agreed on mutual concessions to make the text more palatable for the two countries, the same official explained. The affinity the two leaders share has not gone unnoticed. “There’s a bit of a honeymoon between Macron and Merz,” Alemanno said. “They really get along well because they have a very similar style of leadership. They are both very charismatic. They also say things that are quite unpopular, but they just say it.”  Last month, Macron told an audience of business executives that the due diligence directive ought “not just to be postponed for one year, but to be put off the table.” Emmanuel Macron told an audience of business executives that the due diligence directive ought “not just to be postponed for one year, but to be put off the table.” | Pool Photo by Benoit Tessier via EPA His comments followed a similar statement from Merz, who had called for a “complete repeal” of the law during a visit to Brussels.  As their leaders were making bold public statements about scrapping the rules altogether, behind the scenes the French and German delegations in Brussels negotiated to effectively hollow out the file. After the agreement was reached, Paris hailed the outcome as a joint win for Europe’s most powerful leaders, while Berlin stayed mum. “The German government will not publicly comment on statements made by other governments or information based on anonymous sources,” a German government spokesperson said. Civil society groups, meanwhile, question whether Europe’s supply chain oversight rules still make a difference. “We’re getting to the point of, is it even worth having this law?” said Richard Gardiner, interim head of EU policy at the ShareAction NGO, arguing that if “badly written” rules are then enshrined in law, companies will have no incentive to do better. A LONG TIME COMING The French and German positions come on the back of a tumultuous start to Ursula von der Leyen’s second term as European Commission president, during which she pledged to answer EU leaders’ calls to cut red tape for business. One of the first concrete measures the new Commission took was an “omnibus” bill, an “unprecedented simplification effort” that watered down several green laws from the previous mandate, including the corporate sustainability reporting directive and the supply chain law. The Commission wanted these changes to be fast-tracked. “I have never seen them move this fast on a piece of legislation,” said ShareActions’s Gardiner, describing the policymaking process in Brussels as having gone from a “technocratic [process] to essentially a personality-based, knee-jerk reaction.” Among the key changes to the rules is the number of companies that will be impacted. While the Commission’s proposal was to exclude 80 percent of European companies from having to comply with both the sustainability reporting and the supply chain rules, EU countries ultimately backed a French proposal to limit the scope of the latter to companies with more than 5,000 employees and €1.5 billion in net turnover. In other words, fewer than 1,000 European companies would be subject to them. Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron joined forces this month to hobble new European Union rules aimed at boosting supply chain transparency, agreeing to mutual concessions that critics say have left the bill toothless. | Olivier Hoslet/EPA And that’s what the French wanted. “I think that this alignment between France and Germany allowed [us] to progress,” said the French official quoted above. In particular, the French agreed to concessions on civil liability — a main concern of German companies, which did not want to be liable for breaches of the law at the EU level. In exchange, Berlin agreed to back the higher threshold that determines which companies are subject to the new rules to ensure they align with those that already exist in French law.  On the French side, there was a “prioritization of the topic of the threshold,” said a Parliament official familiar with the details. THE BACKSTORY Berlin especially has long been at the forefront of the political war against the supply chain oversight law, with liberal and conservative politicians turning their opposition into a core component of electoral politics at a time of economic downturn, warnings of de-industrialization and global trade wars.  Even well before the Commission presented its rules, Germany was pressing Brussels to follow its lead and exempt companies with fewer than 1,000 employees. Back in 2022 the bill was already falling short of what progressive lawmakers and green groups were requesting.  After all three EU institutions managed to clinch a deal in December 2023 — overcoming an attempt by center-right European People’s Party (EPP) lawmakers to kill the file, and having already agreed to carve out the financial sector to win France over — the horse-trading intensified. Germany’s liberals, back then the smallest party in the three-party coalition of former Chancellor Olaf Scholz, launched a last-ditch push to kill the heavily lobbied and controversial file altogether, despite major disagreements within the national coalition government. France and Italy both jumped on the bandwagon.  Despite all this, the measure made it through.   Now, the survival of EU supply chain oversight rules is part of the new coalition agreement between the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats (SPD) in Berlin. In principle, the agreement binds the German chancellor to protect the bill, albeit with a promise to trim the bureaucratic burden in the text. But tensions are simmering beneath the surface. Now, the survival of EU supply chain oversight rules is part of the new coalition agreement between the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats (SPD) in Berlin. | Filip Singer/EPA “Many people would have benefited from the law, but their voices were not loud enough — while the bureaucracy debate overshadowed the debate,” said one German government official, granted anonymity to speak freely about internal political dynamics.  THE FRENCH U-TURN Macron’s position was far less consistent than Merz’s. He performed a spectacular U-turn to become the No. 1 opponent of a text he and his governments had advocated, at least publicly. Having been one of the first countries to enact a national law banning human rights abuses and environmental breaches from supply chains, France initially cast itself as a top supporter of the text and made it a priority when it held the rotating Council presidency back in 2022. Then, last year, Paris piggybacked on Berlin’s opposition, requesting that the law apply to fewer companies. Fast forward to 2025, and the French have become fierce critics of the text. Earlier this year, POLITICO revealed that Paris had asked the European Commission to indefinitely delay the text. That was before Macron told a roomful of business CEOs gathered in Versailles from all over the world that the text should be thrown out altogether.  While the president’s shift is music to the ears of France’s industry lobbies, it has also triggered an internal revolt from his allies who warned against sacrificing green and anti-forced labor rules under pressure from business.  And unlike about a year ago, Berlin and Paris are facing barely any pushback.  Last year, the Greens and the Social Democrats in the former German coalition government voiced their opposition to Berlin’s attempts to kill the bill, before giving in to pressure from the liberals. Now, the Social Democrats co-governing with Merz’ conservative party are mostly quiet. On Wednesday, the SPD-led labor ministry finally broke its silence, saying it was in “favor of reducing the administrative burden on companies and at the same time effectively protecting human rights.” Calls to alleviate the burden for businesses, it seems, have become the new political consensus. “The whole narrative has gotten out of hand. And no one is still up against it,” Gardiner said. Marianne Gros and Antonia Zimmermann reported from Brussels, Giorgio Leali reported from Paris and Laura Hülsemann reported from Berlin.

The EU must take decisive action to ensure it can power key industries, while stepping up its efforts to deal with Russia’s weaponization of energy markets, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared on Thursday. Speaking at an energy security conference in London, the head of the bloc’s executive arm said the continent was at a “decisive moment” in which “we see threats to energy security intensifying.” Von der Leyen touted an upcoming “roadmap,” expected on May 6, which she said will offer “concrete measures to phase out all imports of Russian fossil fuels so that we will no longer rely on a hostile power for our energy needs.” Earlier this week, POLITICO reported that the EU was considering a ban on new Russian fossil fuel contracts as part of its long-awaited roadmap. The plan has been delayed for weeks amid geopolitical uncertainty following U.S. President Donald Trump’s rapprochement with the Kremlin. Von der Leyen has, however, previously welcomed the suggestion of buying more American gas to help phase out Russian shipments. “These energy partnerships, including imports of liquefied natural gas from the United States, remain of strategic importance for the European Union,” she added, while also crediting renewable power as having helped break Moscow’s stranglehold. Meanwhile, the risk of Russian sabotage and cyberattacks against energy infrastructure is growing, demanding more cross-border cooperation with countries like Britain. “We are developing capabilities to protect critical undersea cables,” von der Leyen said. “We are open and ready to share our experiences and to cooperate on this with strategic partners. “

BRUSSELS — The European Commission will propose deep cuts to the European Union’s environmental reporting rule book in its bid to slash red tape and boost the bloc’s struggling economy, according to a section of a draft of the upcoming omnibus legislation obtained by POLITICO. In one of the first major pieces of legislation from the new Commission, a large cohort of businesses could be exempt from complying with corporate sustainability reporting rules, bringing only the largest companies under the regulations, the leaked document shows. Requirements to monitor environmental and human rights abuses deep in companies’ global supply chains, meanwhile, could be considerably reduced under the proposed changes. The eagerly anticipated proposal will be a relief to many businesses worried about having to meet complicated green reporting standards, many of which they complain are overlapping and require major investment to ensure compliance. But green and center-left groups are likely to oppose many of the changes, setting up a fight in the European Parliament and among member countries. “If confirmed, this is reckless,” Maria van der Heide, head of EU policy at NGO ShareAction, said on Saturday. “Sustainability laws designed to tackle the most pressing crises — climate breakdown, human rights abuses, corporate exploitation — are being crossed out behind closed doors and at record speed. This is not simplification, it’s pure deregulation.” THE DETAILS Expected on Feb. 26, the omnibus bill aims to simplify three of the bloc’s major green rules affecting businesses: the corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD), which forces companies to report on their impact on the environment and their exposure to climate risk; the corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD), which requires them to investigate and address human rights and environmental abuses in their global supply chain abuses; and the EU taxonomy, which defines what counts as a sustainable investment. The bill is also expected to include changes to the carbon border tax, though this was not confirmed in the leaked section of the bill. According to the leaked draft, the Commission suggests making eight changes to the due diligence rules to significantly water them down, including asking businesses only to look at their direct suppliers and not further along their supply chains. Changes to the CSRD, meanwhile, would see the law’s implementation delayed by a year, and would mean only the very largest companies — those with more than 1,000 employees and €450 million in turnover — would have to comply. Under the existing legislation, the rules would have applied to listed companies with as few as 50 employees and annual turnover of €8 million from 2026. If passed, the latter change would mean that the scope of the CSRD and CSDDD would become the same, something which businesses and member countries have been asking for. POLITICO reported on Friday that an earlier draft of the omnibus had included scrapping the so-called “double materiality” rule in the CSRD, which requires companies to report on their impact on the environment, not just the risks climate change poses to their financial health, as in more traditional sustainability reporting standards. The leaked section of the draft bill makes no mention of double materiality, however. Once out, the proposed amendments will require approval from member countries in the Council of the EU and from lawmakers in the European Parliament. DUE DILIGENCE SLASHED The original due diligence law — passed in 2024 and only due to be implemented incrementally from 2027 onwards — requires companies to look deep into their supply chains to identify and act on activities that harm the environment and violate human rights. Under the new proposed rules, those duties would be radically reduced. Companies would no longer have to look beyond suppliers with which they have a direct business relationship. The frequency at which they are expected to monitor suppliers would be reduce to once every five years, down from annually. This would “significantly reduce burdens not just for in-scope companies but also for their business partners, often SMEs, which risk being at the receiving end of (detailed) information requests as part of these monitoring exercises,” the text states. In addition, companies would no longer be forced to terminate that relationship with suppliers that fail to improve their behavior. The Commission also wants to scrap the current EU-wide liability regime, in order to “reduce litigation risk” for businesses. That would mean that holding companies liable for breaches under the CSDDD would only exist under national laws. The proposed changes also limit the scope of the term “stakeholder,” reducing the number of people and communities businesses must consider when conducting their due diligence. The draft also softens the original requirement for companies to put into force a climate change transition plan. The text also amends rules on how member countries should fine non-compliant companies, removing a requirement from the existing rule that the fine be linked to a company’s turnover.

BRUSSELS ― The European Union’s new foreign affairs chief has outraged governments and officials over her decision to boot out her department’s top civil servant. As first reported by POLITICO, Italian EU veteran Stefano Sannino is leaving his post as secretary general of the bloc’s External Action Service and moving to a senior role at the European Commission where he started his EU career. The decision by Kallas, the former Estonian prime minister, has ruffled feathers just a week after the new EU leadership began work. The move has shocked and dismayed people who worked with Sannino in Brussels and in national capitals, according to four EU officials who spoke to POLITICO.  “Several member states were quite irritated about this decision,” one EU diplomat said. “You don’t let the pilot disembark the ship when a new crew has to navigate stormy waters.” Others said the decision signaled that Kallas ― already one of the most prominent members of the EU’s new top brass ― is prepared to rock the boat and put her own stamp on the institution she will lead for the next five years. Sannino reaches the retirement age of 65 this month, but the Commission could ask him to stay longer. He had been widely expected to stay on in the EEAS role.  NAMES IN THE FRAME An urbane, opera-loving former Italian ambassador and senior Commission official, Sannino is a well-known figure in Brussels. As secretary general of the EU’s foreign policy wing, he has an outsized influence on European foreign affairs, shaping everything from the bloc’s Ukraine policy to its relationship with the United States.  But his early exit means a vacancy at the apex of the EEAS. The position has already been advertised with a closing date for applications of Dec. 16. Some of the names floating in Brussels in recent weeks include French Ambassador Philippe Léglise-Costa and European Commission Secretary General Ilze Juhansone. Juhansone, a former Latvian ambassador, who is currently the top EU official at the Commission, is a close ally of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her chief of staff Bjoern Seibert.  Should Juhansone clinch the top job at the EEAS it could be seen as a power grab by von der Leyen, who has a highly centralized, top-down management style as Commission boss. But it would also mean that with Kallas, a second person from a Baltic country would play a key role in foreign policy, a prospect that doesn’t sit well with some governments. TENSE RELATIONS Kallas’ position, officially called EU high representative, is notoriously tricky. Although one of the bloc’s 27 commissioners, the EU foreign policy chief sits institutionally somewhere between the Commission and the Council ― which represents the member countries ― and is responsible for the 2,500-plus staff working in EEAS headquarters as well as around 2,800 employees working at delegations across the world.  The decision by Kallas, the former Estonian prime minister, has ruffled feathers just a week after the new EU leadership began work. | Omar Marques/Getty Images Kallas is the youngest — and most senior — figure to occupy the position. The 47-year-old was prime minister of Estonia between 2021 and 2024.  Tensions between the Commission and the EEAS have already surfaced, just days into the five-year mandate of the new Commission. The Commission is pushing plans to dramatically cut the number of people working at many of its embassies to beef up staffing in countries where it feels the bloc has a strategic interest, POLITICO reported last week. The staff reduction initiative come as the EEAS blew past its budget for 2024. But it also reflects a wish by the Commission to beef up its Global Gateway project, its answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, at the expense of the more traditional diplomacy practiced by the EEAS, which operates 145 delegation offices (de facto EU embassies) across the world.  In a hearing at the European Parliament on Thursday, Kallas said that the plan to cut embassy staff had not been her decision but that she had discussed it with von der Leyen.  “I don’t know whose plan it is, but it’s not my plan,” said Kallas, who was sitting beside Sannino during the hearing. When asked about finances at the EEAS she said: “When I was prime minister, I had to clear the mess of … previous prime ministers, regarding the budget, I had to answer the questions regarding the budget that I had nothing to do with.” Eddy Wax contributed to this article

BRUSSELS — It’s Christophe Hansen’s first working day in his new job, and he is sitting nervously by his temporary desk in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture with some well-prepared talking points.  The new European Union agriculture and food chief — a farmer’s son who hails from Luxembourg, and from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s European People’s Party — tells POLITICO he has a clear goal: to help farmers have a better life. Five years ago, von der Leyen’s first Commission unveiled the flagship Farm to Fork Strategy, an overarching vision “at the heart of the European Green Deal” to green agriculture and food systems.  The strategy included targets to reduce pesticide use; new animal welfare rules; and a nutrition labeling scheme — which were either abandoned or never implemented after a backlash from parties on the right of the political spectrum and Europe’s powerful farming lobbies.  At the beginning of his mandate, and with farmers’ protests still raging in parts of Europe, Hansen pleaded for a “different” approach that will be revealed in a new Vision for Agriculture and Food that von der Leyen has tasked him with delivering within his first 100 days in office. “Farmers had the impression that it [Farm to Fork] was a top-down imposition,” he said on Monday in his first interview as commissioner in Brussels. In addition, Hansen prefers to speak about objectives and aspirations than about targets. “I’m not a big fan of putting down percentages.” At the same time, there seems to be little room for agri-food systems — which still account for about one-third of total EU greenhouse gas emissions and are a major contributor to water pollution and biodiversity decline — to slow down their green transition. “We have to continue our path toward sustainable farming and food systems,” said Hansen, a former member of the European Parliament who sat on its environment committee. “But I want to achieve those objectives with the farmers, and with the actors of the food chain, together.”  Hansen, 42, insisted that instead of telling farmers “this is the percentage, eat it or die, let’s [tell them] we want to reduce pesticides; what are the means needed to get there?” A NEW LOBBY IS BORN To achieve that consensus, the commissioner will announce a call for applications for a new consultative body made up of 30 farming, food supply chain and civil society representatives — the European Board on Agri-Food — by the end of the week. The board would build on the work of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture, a similar but time-limited exercise convened by von der Leyen that presented a final report with agreed policy recommendations in September. The mandate of the EBAF will last five years, and its members would meet up to six times a year. Hansen will chair its meetings, which aim to provide advice on policy initiatives — including his 100-day vision. A first get-together will likely happen before the initiative is presented on Feb. 19. Even before the new Commission was announced, Copa-Cogeca — the EU’s largest farming lobby — demanded greater representation in the bloc’s newest policy forum. | Hatim Kaghat/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty Images The new group “will not have a legislative role [nor] replace the co-legislators,” Hansen explained. He sees it as “an opportunity to confront the board with certain political ideas and pathways to make sure that afterward everybody is firstly, informed, and secondly, in line with the political decisions that are going to follow them.” “It will require a lot of work,” he admitted. Even before the new Commission was announced, Copa-Cogeca — the EU’s largest farming lobby — demanded greater representation in the bloc’s newest policy forum. “In the Strategic Dialogue, just five out of 29 participants were farmers,” Copa-Cogeca wrote in a Sept. 20 letter to the Commission. “At least half of the Board should be composed of participants representing the farming world, and Copa and Cogeca … should be granted a stronger presence in comparison to other actors.” Hansen seemed to be on board with that. “It will be very important not to disadvantage the farming community because we are speaking about their future,” he said, adding that farmers are more affected than others by the issues to be discussed. “This criteria needs to be taken into account” when selecting members, he concluded. The final decision will be taken by the College of Commissioners. EVOLUTION, NOT REVOLUTION A major hurdle for the first half of Hansen’s mandate will be repurposing the EU’s €300 billion farm budget, the Common Agricultural Policy. It is mostly distributed in the form of direct subsidy payments based on farmed area — meaning that farmers with more land get more money than those with less. While many hope that the next cycle of the CAP starting in 2028 will be a defining chance to make EU farm policy more just and sustainable, Hansen called for an evolutionary approach: “The focus should be to make things better, not make a revolution.” Giving “predictability and stability” to farmers was of utmost importance, he said, and therefore, “Predictability is not changing everything that is functioning for the last six years, I think that would be the wrong way.” One of the “evolutions” that Hansen is eyeing is to make area payments degressive — meaning that payouts per hectare would decrease gradually once a certain farm size is reached. As a negotiator on the file when he was on the Parliament’s environment committee, Hansen is confident of support from MEPs — although EU capitals may need convincing. “The Parliament was very clear on that line,” he said, “but we knew that last time the Council was reluctant, [and] that is why it became voluntary.” At the beginning of his mandate, and with farmers’ protests still raging in parts of Europe, Christophe Hansen pleaded for a “different” approach that will be revealed in a new Vision for Agriculture and Food. | Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA-EFE On the other hand, he added, “We can’t compare the size of a farm from one country to another.” But much will depend first on negotiations on the EU next multiyear budget. As much as the agriculture commissioners’ job is to maintain the share of money going to farmers, the EU’s obsession with competitiveness and growing demands to fund other sectors such as defense will likely take a toll on the CAP. “Agriculture and food production is a strategic sector for the EU, and it would be very unwise to give away this potential that we have,” Hansen warned, while adding, “We will not have more money in the pot, that is something we need to acknowledge.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off the country’s new budget on Sunday, which includes record spending on military needs amid Moscow’s ongoing assault against Ukraine. Around 32.5 percent of the 2025 budget — or 13.5 trillion rubles (€119 billion) —  has been allocated for national defense, up from a reported 28.3 percent this year, according to a document posted on a government website, AP reported. The budget approval came as European Union officials traveled to Ukraine to show solidarity with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The bloc’s new foreign affairs chief, Kaja Kallas, European Council President António Costa and European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos visited Kyiv on Sunday, on the first day of the new European Commission’s mandate, to reaffirm their “unwavering support to the Ukrainian people,” Costa said on X. Russian lawmakers had already approved the budget plans in late November. With the war in Ukraine approaching the three-year mark, tensions have escalated recently. Moscow last week threatened to strike government buildings in Kyiv and has launched massive aerial attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector — which the Kremlin said were in response to Kyiv’s use of advanced weapons provided by the United States and the United Kingdom.

David Miliband is the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s aspiration for a “geopolitical Commission” speaks to the modern era. The world is more connected now than ever before, with increasing global risks from health pandemics to climate change and nuclear proliferation. At the same time, political fragmentation is creating the “post-American world,” even though the U.S. economy is sustaining its share of global GDP at around 25 percent. The EU’s aspiration for a coherent role in this world, bringing together hard and soft power, is an important test for the new Commission. And as the distinctions between foreign and domestic policy are increasingly frayed, the need for a joined-up approach is growing. One such example is the Global Gateway program. Described by the EU as its “plan for major investment in infrastructure development around the world,” the incoming Commission wants to use it to compete for geopolitical influence and spur public-private partnerships in emerging markets like Egypt and Columbia. The program could also spur important progress in climate mitigation and adaptation. However, if the price of this strategy is paid by the rest of the international development program — which is meant to tackle extreme poverty, and needs to be focused in fragile and conflict-affected states that are the source of increasing poverty and displacement — the Commission’s geopolitical imperative will be undermined. Rather, to unlock maximum benefit and mitigate any potential harm, the Global Gateway could and should be adapted to deliver in a wider range of settings. However, channeling effective outcomes in the most fragile and conflict-affected contexts will require a separate strategy — one underpinned by sufficient resources and political will. With the vast majority of humanitarian needs centered in a handful of countries caught at the intersection of conflict, climate change and economic shocks, renewed effort to address this new geography of crisis is essential — not only to uphold the EU’s own fundamental values but to galvanize greater political stability, protect against global spillover crises and secure the bloc’s reputation as a global leader. Based on the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) experience working in fragile contexts, there’s a blueprint for how the EU can create a framework for fragile states that is truly fit for the future: Firstly, the Global Gateway must recognize the changing reality that extreme poverty and climate vulnerability are growing in fragile and conflict-affected states. The amount of global funding available for Least Developed Countries is diminishing, and multilateral finance is often failing to reach those most in need. This is why it is important to improve access to finance in these settings, and the IRC recommends pioneering the use of “humanitarian debt swaps” in order to abate the flow of funds out of the poorest countries in debt payments and reroute this finance toward humanitarian needs. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s aspiration for a “geopolitical Commission” speaks to the modern era. | Kenzo Tribouillard/Getty Images Second, there isn’t just a “finance gap” — there’s also a “delivery gap.” Fragile contexts don’t offer the easy option of a government-centric partnership because, by definition, their governments are challenged at best, and at worst, they’re simply not present. Von der Leyen’s call for the creation of an “integrated approach to fragility” is an important recognition of this reality. The EU has already demonstrated it can deliver both humanitarian and development aid in the most complex settings if it broadens its range of partners. And in contexts where the EU can’t work with governments, it should deepen collaboration with civil society organizations. These groups — women- and refugee-led organizations in particular — are often best placed to identify groups with specific needs, conduct negotiations to overcome barriers to access and ensure aid can reach those who need it most. Our EU-funded work with a number of civil society organizations in the Central African Republic to economically empower women and reduce their exposure to gender-based violence is a great example of this. Such people-centric partnerships aren’t just stopgap measures to keep people alive in emergencies. They can also lay the groundwork for longer-term systems strengthening. An effective fragility strategy could better support this important work through the creation of a new EU Resilience Fund, jointly funded by the Commission’s departments for humanitarian aid (ECHO) and international partnerships (INTPA), leveraging the former’s expertise in delivering in fragile contexts and the latter’s strengths in catalyzing long-term sustainable development outcomes. Lastly, the IRC has identified 17 particularly climate-vulnerable and conflict-affected countries — including Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and Sudan — which account for just 10.5 percent of the total global population but make up a staggering 71.1 percent of those in humanitarian need. The EU needs to approach these contexts with the recognition that when conflict and climate change intersect, development is set back. So, the answer needs to address climate adaptation as a strategy for livelihoods. However, in 2022, only about 6 percent of the EU’s adaptation financing for developing countries was committed to fragile and conflict states — a number that clearly falls far short of climate finance needs and should be tripled. The bloc should also double the proportion of Official Development Assistance disbursed to the world’s most fragile countries to 50 percent, and follow Germany’s example in scaling up the proportion of its budget spent on anticipatory climate action from 2 percent to 5 percent. On the cusp of their new mandate, von der Leyen’s new Commissioners have the chance to forge a new approach to fragile states that actually works, while spearheading a global shift toward better supporting the world’s most complex and vulnerable regions. This isn’t only a moral imperative, it’s a crucial step if the EU is to save lives and strengthen communities amid new global threats, retain its position as a heavyweight on the world stage and raise the bar for the broader international community.

BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen picked senior EU civil servant Paula Pinho to be her chief spokesperson for her second five-year term. Pinho, a Portuguese national and trained lawyer, has worked for the Commission since 2020 and is currently a director in the directorate general for energy. She has also worked in the Cabinets of several European commissioners. Pinho will replace Eric Mamer, who has done the job since von der Leyen became president of the EU executive in 2019. One of the main jobs of the chief spokesperson is to field questions from journalists at the Commission’s daily press conference, known as the midday briefing. The next Commission can only begin once the European Parliament votes in favor of the new College of 27 commissioners. A vote is widely expected to take place Nov. 27, paving the way for the new Commission to take office on Dec. 1. According to a biography posted online, Pinho speaks six European languages: Portuguese, German, English, French, Spanish and Italian.