Nobody puts Warsaw in the corner. Donald Tusk’s former right-hand man, Piotr Serafin, will be picking up the mic today in a bid to convince the EU’s political parties he’s the man to lead negotiations over its €1.2 trillion central budget. When Tusk, who is now Poland’s prime minister, was European Council president, officials who worked with Serafin described him as a powerbroker par excellence and a tireless number cruncher. Having worked in Brussels for over a decade, he knows how the EU works ― and that already gives him a major head start. If approved, Serafin will be central to the budget negotiations for the period 2028-2034 and tasked with proposing how the EU intends to spend its money over the coming years. But the task will be particularly hard in this budget cycle since the European Commission wants to attach conditions to cash handouts, especially since Poland is one of the largest recipients. We’ll be bringing you all the live action from 2:30 p.m. CET on Nov. 7.  Background reading:  * How the hearings work  * Who’s most likely to get the chop  PS. If you want to follow more of the action from the hearings, our reporters will be bringing you blow-by-blow updates from all 26 commissioner interviews here.