| Happy Friday and welcome back to GBU, where we look back on what should be (we hope) Brussels’ last busy week before everyone in the vicinity of the Schuman roundabout logs off for the summer. Decide for yourself what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s ugly.
MFF MADNESS: After weeks of build-up, the European Commission’s presentation of its “most ambitious ever” seven-year EU budget proposal took (messy) centre stage on Wednesday.
While no one really knows what it all means, and it’s still subject to significant change as the real budget talks are only about to begin, it’s provocative, and it surely gets people talking.
It was my first MFF announcement day and a good chunk of it resembled mass confusion on all fronts, although one would think the Commission had enough time to plan everything surrounding that spectacular €2 trillion proposal drop to a T.
The International Press Association seems to think so, too, accusing the Commission of breaching media agreements and deliberately keeping journalists in the dark in a press release sent earlier today.
Anyway, we did follow the revolting commissioners, unhappy parliamentarians and more on our live blog and are keeping an eye on the budget aftermath.
Spoiler: It is all 'bout the money, contrary to pop culture belief.
Thomas Moller-Nielsen has a must-read budget breakdown, Sarantis Michalopoulos tells you why the new budget has a smoking problem and Jeremias Lin spoke to disgruntled farmers who are readying their pitchforks for a September return to Brussels after farm subsidies got slashed big time.
TIT, TAT, TARIFFS: Somewhat in the shadows of the budget, the EU-US tariff bonanza kept going, too. Trade chief Šefčovič travelled to Washington again and briefed EU ministers on the outcome this afternoon.
So, where do we stand? Some want peace, some want violence, seemingly. At least France wants Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to get the "bazooka" – alias the EU's most powerful trade weapon, the anti-coercion instrument – out in response to Trump’s tariff threats.
Sun's out, guns out? Would that even be possible? Is that a good idea? I personally wouldn't trust my judgment on this, but Tom beautifully lays it all down here.
TOUGH ON RUSSIA, ROUND 18: Today, EU member states agreed on a new wave of economic sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine – after Slovakia’s Russia-friendly PM Robert Fico lifted his weeks-long veto. The new measures target Russian banks and lower a price cap on Russian oil exports in a bid to crush the country’s war chest.
STRANDED USAID CONDOMS IN BELGIUM: A total 26 million condoms, millions of contraceptive pills, thousands of implants, two million injectable doses, and 50,000 bottles of HIV prevention medication from the US development agency USAID are sitting – unused – in a warehouse in the north-east of Belgium and face possible destruction. That’s a stockpile worth about €8.6 million, and destroying would cost Washington around €145,000. How did we get here? Thomas Mangin knows. | 