Can Brussels’ new power trio take on Trump?

EU Confidential

POLITICO

Politics, News Commentary, News

4.4 • 175 Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2024

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Finally. After months of paralysis, the new leadership team in Brussels is up and running. Then again, the power trio of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President António Costa and foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas might already be out of date, reflecting centrist majorities that don’t really exist anymore and pushing for support for Ukraine that’s already on the wane in the age of Donald Trump. Host Sarah Wheaton is joined by POLITICO’s own power trio of reporters — Barbara Moens, Aitor Hernández-Morales and Nick Vinocur — to debate whether the new dynamic in Brussels can face the challenges ahead and avoid devolving into petty pitfalls like the so-called sofagate scandal. Next, the latest installment of the Berlaymont Who’s Who series looks at Marta Kos, the new gatekeeper for aspiring European Union members. Lastly, we listen in to a clip from our sister podcast Power Play about the political crisis in Paris. Anne McElvoy talks to POLITICO's Editor-at-Large in France Marion Solletty and Alexandre Kouchner, political analyst and lecturer at the Sciences Po university. Listen here to the full episode: "French connection: Trump meets Macron in free fall" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hallelujah.
0:03.1	Finally, finally, something is happening.
0:07.2	Regular listeners to this podcast know that we have been complaining about the EU doing
0:12.4	nothing while the world devolves into chaos.
0:16.4	But now the new leadership team is in place, and they started with a bang.
0:22.1	The EU's top diplomat, Kayakhalis, and the president of the European Council, Antonio Koste,
0:27.7	showed up in Kiev on Sunday, their very first day on the job.
0:31.7	They met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and told him he can count on them.
0:36.8	We stood with you, we stand with you, and we will stand with you.
0:42.2	Thank you for receiving us on this first day.
0:45.0	I think it's very symbolic and shows that Ukraine is very important also to the new
0:52.2	incoming commission.
0:53.6	Ukraine will win and we are here with you.
0:59.4	But can they really keep that promise? And Ukraine is just one of the many challenges ahead
1:04.9	for Koste, Kales, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In some ways, this top team might already be out of date,
1:13.6	reflecting centrist majorities that don't really exist anymore
1:16.5	and pushing for support for Ukraine that's already on the wane in the age of Trump.
1:22.3	So is this trio up to the task?
1:25.7	Will they bring a fresh dynamic to EU leadership? Or are we looking at
1:29.4	more gridlock, drama, and, dare we say it, another sofa gate? I'm Sarah Wheaton,
1:37.5	host of EU Confidential. Later in the episode, we'll check in on France, where another political
1:43.1	earthquake has shaken the country
	...

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