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By ELISA BRAUN
Tips, tales, traumas to @elisabraun or influence@politico.eu | View in your browser
BONJOUR dear readers. I’ve had a great few weeks as your new EU influence writer and been grateful for the multiple (and insightful) welcome coffees that we’ve had. There’s one week to go before this newsletter takes a short summer break, and the excellent Mari Eccles will be in the driving seat for the next edition.
In the meantime, I’m leaving you with quite a full menu.
À la carte today:
- Grilled Patriots for Europe MEPs
- The Paris Olympic Games of influence, served with extra salty tidbits from our Parisian colleagues
- Sweet (questions) for Azerbaijan’s Aliyev from Euronews
MEPs IN THE SPOTLIGHT
PATRIOTS FOR EUROPE ON THE GRILL. Regular readers will know that with my colleagues Louise Guillot, Hanne Cokelaere and Max Griera, I’m spending my summer analyzing declarations of interest of members of the European Parliament (MEPs), with the aim of disclosing their connections to private and public interests — as well as their juiciest secrets.
Our stalking mission continues with one of the newest groups in the Parliament: the far-right Patriots for Europe. The 84-strong group piqued our interest for three main reasons:
1 — They’re professional politicians and, apparently, the money is good: While most of the Patriots’ members campaigned on defending working-class issues, 75 percent of them (62 out of 84 MEPs) are professional politicians, meaning they have declared that their main sources of income for the past three years came from political parties or activities in regions, mayoral offices or parliaments. And we’re talking good money: for 35 of them who were already MEPs, it’s above €8,000 net a month. But for those who have other activities, it’s even more.
- Spanish MEP Jorge Buxadé Villalba declared he got €2,200 a month from the Vox party as its legal counsel and €18,000 per year as a private lawyer. That’s around €13,700 gross a month with the MEP income added. Vox said he was working on private cases only.
- Austrian MEP Harald Vilimsky said he was getting a top-up of €1,000 a month for media counseling missions as well as “general personnel support” from his Austrian party, the FPÖ.
- Hungarian MEP Ernő Schaller-Baross said he got a monthly top-up of around €2,500 from his activities as a board member of two Hungarian think tanks, the Habsburg Ottó Foundation and the Millenáris Foundation.
All three of the above MEPs were contacted, but none had replied at the time of publication.
2 — They do have ties with the private sector (sometimes a lot): 38 percent of the group has declared they received money from the private sector in the past three years. And yes, that means some got income from both the public and the private sectors. Ten MEPs have for instance declared that while they were already working at the European Parliament, they were getting a salary on top of that. There’s nothing wrong with that if there’s no conflict of interest, but it’s something that NGOs such as Transparency International have warned could be a problem.
- Hungarian MEP Tamás Deutsch declared he got €1,500 a month outside of his parliamentary gig as a lawyer in the past three years, while Italian MEP Isabella Tovaglieri declared a top-up of €1,000 a month as a lawyer — their clients are not disclosed and neither MEP replied to a request for comment.
3 — Many have a judiciary past, and sometimes even a judiciary present. Although they don’t brag about it in their public declarations, many of the Patriots are or have been the subject of court cases. Here’s a sample:
— Italian MEP and ex-army general Roberto Vannacci has been under investigation for inciting racial hatred in his best-selling book, which came on top of another probe in which the military prosecutor’s office suspected him of embezzlement and fraud during his time as an Italian representative in Moscow, and on top of another investigation led by the Rome prosecutor’s office into forgery of allowances and reimbursements that allegedly happened during the same period. Vannacci told us the investigation into alleged racial hatred “was all dismissed” and that the second case was just about fraud. He added that he would “assert [his] positions for which [he would declare his] innocence from the outset” on the other pending charges if contacted by judiciary authorities.
— Czech MEP Jana Nagyová has been implicated in the so-called Stork’s Nest case, in which former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš allegedly obtained some €2 million in EU subsidies for his Stork’s Nest company by concealing his ownership of the business. Babiš denied wrongdoing. Nagyovà, who was Babiš’ adviser at the time, was involved in the case as she submitted the application for the subsidy. Just after she got elected, the Supreme Court in Prague said it would ask the European Parliament to lift her immunity, a spokesperson said. Nagyová told my colleague Max that she was “not in the EP to seek immunity” and has been declared innocent twice in the case.
— Italian MEP Silvia Sardone, who worked on waste management rules during her previous mandate, has been accused of conflict of interest by Italian media outlet L’Espresso as two of her parliamentary assistants had ties to waste disposal company ZeroC, which provides EU-funded services for the water operator of Milan. ZeroC is controlled by Cap Holding, in which one of her assistants held key positions. ZeroC’s second biggest shareholder is the municipality of Sesto San Giovanni, which is administered by Sardone’s ex-partner. Sardone’s name does not appear on any of these contracts or in connection with any of the companies, and she strenuously denied any wrongdoing. “In my activity at the European Parliament, I have never acted in any conflict of interest,” Sardone said. “All my collaborators have been chosen on the basis of their professional skills and no other purpose,” she told us.
— Belgian MEP and leader of Vlaams Belang Tom Vandendriessche is being investigated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office after anti-fraud agency OLAF started a probe into how he was spending his MEP allowances. Vandendriessche said the complaint comes from a “former employee” who seeks “revenge for being fired and tries to throw as much slander and lies towards me as possible.” He added he was confident his delegation “did nothing wrong.”
Bonus: Other juicy profiles…
CAR LOVERS
— Filip Turek, a newly appointed Czech MEP from the Oath and Motorists party, occasionally sells cars and defends motorists through various associations, according to his declaration.
— The Czech Republic’s Ondřej Kovařík, who was a Renew MEP in the last mandate, has previously appeared in EU influence for copy-pasting an amendment from the car lobby. He’s back with the Patriots.
UNEXPECTED GIGS
— Gerald Hauser owns a remote Austrian chalet that has “order and cleanliness” of the highest level, according to a review from 6 months ago.
— Mélanie Disdier, a French MEP from the National Rally, runs an amusement park for kids called Octopus Parc.
— Vilis Krištopans, a former Latvian PM who has strong views on Covid, is one of the owners of a golf company that once suggested Donald Trump become an investor. The Trump suggestion “was mostly a joke, although he owns 19 golf courses, including in Europe, and I would be delighted if he was willing to open a golf course in Latvia,” Krištopans told us by mail.
💌 Are we missing anything? Please reach out if there is something massive we should know.
EURONEWS AND AZERBAIJAN
EURONEWS UNDER FIRE: With its economy overwhelmingly dependent on oil and gas exports, the decision that Azerbaijan would host this year’s COP29 climate change talks raised a few eyebrows. But in recent days the South Caucasus country has played host to an equally paradoxical summit — this time on press freedom.
Freedom festival: Attendees gathered in Azerbaijan’s war-torn Karabakh region over the weekend for a Global Media Forum that described itself as combating threats to journalists’ disinformation and fake news. The fake news it was talking about, however, seemed to be Western mainstream media. And at least one Western outlet, Euronews, was happy to go along for the ride.
Strange hosts: Reporters Without Borders ranks Azerbaijan 164th in the world for press freedom — behind even Russia. “Virtually the entire media sector is under official control,” according to the watchdog, and “journalists who resist harassment, blackmail or bribery attempts are thrown into prison under absurd pretexts.” Dozens of reporters have been jailed in the country and many more forced into exile.
Ask the experts: And, in another case of the pot calling the kettle black, Azerbaijan has itself faced accusations from France that it is responsible for spreading disinformation that led to deadly riots. The move was seen as retribution for Paris’ support for neighboring Armenia, with which Azerbaijan has fought several wars in recent years.
Frost v Nixon it ain’t: The pinnacle of the get-together, however, was a soft-ball interview with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, hosted by a Euronews presenter.
The Generalissimo speaks: In his answers, Aliyev branded the Washington Post and the New York Times as “fake news,” with the moderator failing to push back or interrogate the claim. “Can you imagine,” he asked mockingly, these outlets “published dozens of articles calling me dictator?”
You decide: Aliyev took power in 2003, succeeding his father Heydar Aliyev. He appointed his wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, as his vice president, and the ruling family is said to have amassed huge personal wealth from its control of key sectors of the economy. Under his rule, Freedom House gives Azerbaijan a score of 1 out of 100 for freedom, governed by a “consolidated authoritarian regime.” Euronews did not raise the issue, and has since come under fire from commentators and NGOs online.
Dodgy poll: In February, Aliyev won a fifth presidential term with 92 percent of the vote, in an election that the OSCE described as having been characterized by repression and irregularities.
However, at the time, Euronews sent a reporter to the country and produced a glowing broadcast package that hailed the popularity of the strongman and said the sum total of nothing about the indisputable lack of democracy. As recently as last week, the outlet has hosted paid partnership content from Azerbaijan’s tourist board.
Ring ring: POLITICO made repeated attempts to contact Euronews to enquire about the nature of its partnership with the autocratic state, and whether there was any concern that it had weakened the outlet’s editorial line. Emails and telephone calls went unanswered over the course of several days.
Orbán on the airwaves? Questions over the independence of the pan-European channel have swirled after it was bought in 2022 by an opaque investment firm set up in Portugal. According to an exposé by Le Monde, Hungarian investigative outlet Direkt36 and Portuguese weekly Expresso, the ultimate buyers have close links to authoritarian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and Hungary’s sovereign wealth fund spent tens of millions of euros funding the purchase.
Best of friends: Orbán himself is a close ally of Aliyev’s, congratulating him on his sham election win and reportedly holding up the EU’s package of military aid for Azerbaijan’s long-time rival, Armenia.
OLYMPIC GAMES OF INFLUENCE
OOH LA LA. The Parisienne in me can’t help but get excited about the Olympic Games starting on Friday, partly because it shows how the French capital is a breeding ground for EU influence-making, as my local colleagues brilliantly reported in our daily Paris Influence newsletter.
Exhibit A: The fight for privatization
The world’s biggest companies have spent millions of euros to secure Paris’ most prestigious locations, our Océane Herrero and Judith Chetrit have spotted: Air France has set up shop at the Palais de Tokyo, Coca-Cola rented the Aérogare des Invalides, while retail banking company BPCE spent €2 million to secure Petit Palais, and luxury giant LVMH casually booked a hotel particulier just next to the Elysée palace. Many of these multinationals have also hired la crème de la crème of cooks and planned some performances to impress their guests — which are likely to include key decision-makers. Who said the spirit of Versailles was decapitated?
Exhibit B: French influence for dinner, French strikes for dessert
The Elysée intends to use the Olympic Games as an opportunity to reassure investors who may have noticed that the Bastille spirit is still strong in France. On Thursday and Friday, President Emmanuel Macron will hold bilateral talks with his counterparts from around the globe and will later host some grands patrons, my colleague Paul de Villepin told me. In the streets of Paris, however, guests may spot another kind of (un)welcome sign as strikes are expected at the capital’s airport. Also brewing is a massive lobbying push from restaurant owners who want compensation for the damage caused by the Olympics, which has turned Paris into a city of metal fences and QR codes in which customers are often behind barricades.
HEADLINES
— Alleged sexual harassment at the EU’s top court raises questions of ethics oversight (Follow the Money)
— EU’s discreet outsourcing of fight against fake news gets messy (Intelligence Online)
— Philanthropy’s power brokers (Public Books)
— Belgium gets EU funding for Luxembourg train upgrade (Luxembourg Times)
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INFLUENCERS
CONSULTANCIES
— Josh Tzuker has started as head of antitrust and competition at FGS Global. Previously, he served as the Antitrust Division’s chief of staff and senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice.
— Eva Rito has joined Rud Pedersen Public Affairs in Brussels as financial services research executive. She was previously with Afore Consulting.
— The public affairs company has also hired Matteo Tito Moretti as research executive. He was previously EU trade policy adviser to the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament.
DIPLOMACY
— After two years as deputy political director at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Erica Schouten will take up a new role as special envoy for Ukraine in August.
— Osian Lewis will start at the U.K. Mission in Geneva on August 2. He was previously the first secretary at the U.K. Mission to the European Union.
— Alexis Thuau joined FNADE, the French waste management association, as their permanent representative to the EU. He was previously manager on process emissions at EUROFER.
FOOD INDUSTRY
— Abel Miesen has become financial controller assistant at Nestlé Waters.
EU INSTITUTIONS
— Sara Polo Morcillo has started as an accredited parliamentary assistant at the European Parliament.
FINANCE
— Kilian von König has been promoted to senior case manager at Allianz.
— After two years as technology lead at Infosys, Heena Patel has assumed the position of software engineer at Worldline.
NGOs
— Wojtek Dubelaar has started as value chain and business development officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization. He previously worked as senior business consultant and regional director, East and Southern Africa at Advance Consulting.
ADDENDUM: A spokesperson for former Belgian PM Sophie Wilmès asked us to clarify how she made her declaration to the European Parliament: as a vice premier of Belgium, she only got money from her activities as a local councilor and for teaching missions at UCLouvain. Once she became an MP, she would only get income from her role as an échevine, a professor and as a member of governing committees.
Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, was referenced as an administrator for Knowledge4Innovation, but informed us that they had stepped away fom the organization.
Un grand merci à : Louise Guillot, Max Griera, Hanne Cokelaere, Gabriel Gavin, Sarah Wheaton, Paul de Villepin, Océane Herrero, Judith Chetrit, Jason Wiels, Šejla Ahmatović and my editor Paul Dallison.
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