Good morning from Brussels.

The political discussion over the approval of the next European Commission has heated up in Brussels as EU socialist sources (S&D) told Euractiv that they refuse to support both Italy’s Raffaele Fitto and Hungary’s Oliver Varhelyi. 

Fitto comes from Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right ECR, while Varhelyi comes from Viktor Orbán’s far-right Patriots for Europe.

The EU socialists’ firm stance comes in reaction to the EU centre-right (EPP) attacks against Spain’s socialist EU commissioner candidate, Teresa Ribera. 

The Spanish conservative Partido Popular—an EPP member—apparently pressured its EU political family to boycott Ribera, triggering a strong political clash in Madrid, which is now reflected in Brussels. 

A meeting last night between pro-EU political forces’ leaders failed to reach a package deal over the six executive vice presidents, including Fitto and Ribera.

“If the stability of the European project, and the future European Commission, is in danger today, it holds one person responsible [...] EPP and Manfred Weber,” an S&D source told Euractiv’s Nicoletta Ionta. 

The EPP, the largest political group with 188 votes in the 720-seat EU House, still has the numbers to approve Fitto but with the support of the right wing of the political spectrum: the ECR, the Patriots for Europe and Europe of Sovereign Nations. The same applies to Varhelyi, who is not an executive vice president.

However, this may not be Ursula von der Leyen’s (EPP) preferred scenario, as she was elected president of the European Commission based on a pro-EU majority, the EPP, the S&D, the liberal Renew and the Greens. 

The ball is now in EPP and von der Leyen’s court, considering that the pro-EU grand coalition suggested that no hard-right or far-right politicians would participate.

It remains to be seen whether the EU socialists’ stance is a tactic to decrease EPP pressure on Ribera or the pro-EU grand coalition is truly at stake, with the EU centre-right potentially exploring alternative majorities on the right.   

The European Union must face Donald Trump's return to the White House with both "serenity" and "vigilance," the bloc's outgoing foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell told the European Parliament on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, sources told Euractiv that Borrell will put on the table a proposal to formally suspend political dialogue with Israel over Gaza human rights violations. The proposal is expected to be officially discussed by EU foreign ministers in Brussels next week.

On economy, EU countries should prioritise swift, smaller-scale reforms rather than wait for unanimity to protect the economy from an increasingly aggressive US and China, former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi and French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Wednesday.

BERLIN

Germany’s conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU/EPP) has signalled openness to reform the country’s constitutional deficit limit known as the ‘debt brake’ – a hotly-debated item that has partially contributed to the breakdown of the coalition government last week. Read more.

Scholz fields new European policy chief for upcoming summits. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has designated Undine Ruge to assume the duties of his influential former European policy advisor, Jörg Kukies, leaving the relatively low-profile official in charge of negotiations at two key European summits. Read more.

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PARIS

French prosecutors demand Marine Le Pen be barred from office in fake jobs trial. French prosecutors demanded Wednesday that far-right leader Marine Le Pen receive a jail sentence and be banned from public office for five years over charges she embezzled European Parliament funds. Read more.

French 2024 power exports have already beaten previous annual record. France has already exported 78 TWh of power to neighbouring countries this year, beating its previous annual export record of 77 TWh, the country's main electricity transmission operator, RTE, confirmed during the presentation of its winter outlook on Wednesday. Read more.

ROME

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MADRID

Spanish politicians clash over Teresa Ribera’s EU nomination. The Spanish government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (S&D) on Wednesday called the opposition Partido Popular's (EPP) boycott of Teresa Ribera, Ursula von der Leyen’s Spanish commissioner pick, “shameful” and “anti-patriotic”. Read more.

Spanish infighting derails EU Parliament Valencia flood talks. A European Parliament discussion of the floods in Valencia descended into political bickering on Wednesday, with Spanish conservatives and socialists blaming each other for the disaster that has killed 223 people. Read more.

PRAGUE

The European Union should reassess its climate goals if there are no global allies because it cannot achieve them alone, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday as newly re-elected US president Donald Trump appears on track to pull out of the Paris climate agreement. Read more.

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WARSAW

Poland hails opening of US missile base as sign of its security. The United States opened a new air defence base in northern Poland on Wednesday, an event the European nation's president said showed the country was secure as a member of NATO even as Russia wages war in neighbouring Ukraine. Read more.

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KYIV

EU court refuses trademark for Ukraine's 'Russian warship' insult. The phrase “RUSSIAN WARSHIP, GO F**K YOURSELF” cannot be registered as a trademark, the European Union's General Court in Luxembourg said on Wednesday. Read more.

SOFIA

Boyko Borissov, leader of the election-winning GERB (EPP) party, has opened negotiations with the pro-Russian Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the populists of There is Such a People (ITN) over a possible Bulgarian government. Read more.

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BUCHAREST

Romania approves purchase of 32 F-35s. Romanian senators on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill authorising contracts to purchase the world's most advanced fighter aircraft, the F-35, with the first delivery expected in 2031. Read more.

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Alice Taylor-Braçe]