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By ELISA BRAUN
Tips, tales, traumas to @elisabraun or influence@politico.eu | View in your browser
BONJOUR. I’m spending my day contributing to the POLITICO newsroom’s comprehensive coverage of all 26 commissioner hearings. I encourage you to join me for the fun — including insights into how much the Slovenian commissioner-designate was paid for her lobbying job before her appointment to the EU executive!
Now, let’s get cracking with:
— How a libertarian network targets parliamentary assistants in Brussels, through champagne, chocolate and free trips
— How lobbyists talk about the now-President-elect Trump on LinkedIn, with a little roasting session
— The company fighting hard to bring back plastic straws, and its search for allies
ATLAS NETWORK TARGETS PARLIAMENTARY ASSISTANTS
CHAMPAGNE, CHOCOLATE AND FREE TRIPS. Parliamentary assistants (or APAs) in Brussels are not known to have a luxurious job, or offered conference stays in five-star hotels, with premium champagne. Yet, this is the proposal from one think tank, which offers an “immersive programme” of training — plus extra perks if you bring colleagues as a small thank you: “a bottle of Moët & Chandon for each confirmed referral” and “a trip to the capital of one of our member think tanks” for the biggest referrer.
Who was behind the lavish offer? The generous host, Epicenter, introduces itself as a network “formed by the leading economic think tanks of twelve European countries,” working with “evidence-based perspectives” on all kinds of topics, the invite shared with us by two guests shows. That includes economic competitiveness, taxation policy, energy and climate policy, constitutional affairs and geopolitical affairs. There is no mention of political affiliations and the description of the sessions seems neutral at first glance, but …
Brexiteer as founder. While it was created from London in 2014, the association Epicenter was officially registered in Belgium in 2019, public records show, with one notorious Brexiteer on the board: Mark James Littlewood, who long advocated for the Leave campaign when he was heading the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), another think tank whose influence on Brexit and the conservatives agenda was widely reported on. Littlewood is now the director of Popular Conservatism, a faction within the Conservative Party. Andy Mayer, also a founding member of both Epicenter and a member of IEA, is a former lobbyist for chemical company BASF. Another key member is Tom Clougherty, the new director of the IEA, who spent some time managing publications from the conservative think tank Cato Institute and appeared as one this year’s Tory conference’s influential guests.
All up against the EU’s nanny states. Epicenter notes that “the Association is, like its members, politically independent” and “respects the values upon which the EU is built.” Since 2016, it has also promoted the Nanny State Index, a report which ranks EU countries according to their level of regulation of consumer products such as soft drinks, alcohol and tobacco. “The starting point for this index is clearly the idea that any regulation is a bad regulation,” said Olivier Hoedeman from Corporate Europe Observatory. Hoedeman also pointed out that Timbro, a think tank which was listed as an active member of Epicenter, has reportedly received funding from Exxon Mobil — its website says it’s financed by the Swedish Free Enterprise Foundation. Epicenter’s records in the Transparency Register entry doesn’t mention details of its income sources, he also noted.
If you feel like there are too many think tanks connected here, that is precisely the point: Epicenter is a satellite of the influential Atlas Network of think tanks. The organization was created four decades ago in the United States by businessmen with the aim of promoting classic liberal to libertarian ideas through lookalike think tanks, associations and other research institutes. While Atlas Network doesn’t claim any political partiality, its members have often teamed up with conservative to right-wing forces. NGO Observatoire des multinationales wrote a highly critical report about their history and achievements (listing the election of Donald Trump or Brexit, among many others), pointing out how they were creating echo chambers with all those organizations or building “Overton windows” to drive the conversation.
“Any claim that Brexit was an “accomplishment of Atlas Network” is blatantly false,” said Adam Weinberg, Atlas Network’s director of marketing and communications, adding that the assumption that Trump’s election was another of Atlas Network was “equally ridiculous.”
Influencing the EU just like it did in the U.S. and in the U.K. Atlas has a rising presence in Europe, their report shows, boasting connections in France with far-right financiers close to Éric Zemmour or Marine Le Pen. It has also trained influential think tankers like Agnès Verdier Molinié, a former journalist who frequently appears in the media, to criticize regulation of all kinds.
Small world. Just a few days before June’s EU elections, the Atlas Network organized the Europe Liberty Forum in Madrid, of which the head of Epicenter in Brussels Adam Bartha was a panelist. The meeting took place just after a mass rally by the Spanish party Vox, whose attendees included Marine Le Pen, the Italian and Hungarian Prime Ministers Georgia Meloni and Viktor Orbán, Argentine president Javier Milei and close allies to Donald Trump like Roger Severino of the Heritage Foundation, another influential conservative think tank who has long been a partner of… the Atlas Network — it no longer is the case, Adam Weinberg said. He added Europe Liberty forum was planned years in advance and had no connection to the Vox rally.
It is yet to be confirmed whether this illustrious guest list was also incentivized by champagne and Belgian chocolate.
CHAMPAGNE FOR APAs CONFIRMED. After unexpectedly arriving at Epicenter’s training in the 29th floor of the Cardo Hotel just before sending you this newsletter, we can confirm that we have seen around a dozen bottles of champagne (worth around €40 each) arranged for guests, as well as a nice buffet overlooking the financial district. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to join them in their discussions, and were politely escorted outside of the conference room for a chat.
Right of reply. Atlas Network said there could be “no presumption” it endorses stances, take or decisions made by the 600 independent organizations who are part of its nonpartisan network. It however added that it has “supported organizations fighting back against the rise of the extreme right around the world, especially in Europe,” like Fundalib in Spain. Epicenter said its referral method with champagne was an “innovative method” inspired by start-up methods and is independent of all political parties and groupings, like its members. “We accept generous donations from individuals, foundations and corporates that believe in the values of classical liberalism,” they said about their finances, declining to give more details.
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LET’S TALK ABOUT TRUMP ON … LINKEDIN?
A GENTLE ROAST. It’s common practice for those working in EU public affairs to talk a lot on LinkedIn — both when something happens, and often, even when it doesn’t. Using the remaining neurons POLITICO had left after a night of U.S. election analysis, the collapse of the German government, and a week of commissioner hearings, we compiled and analyzed the hot takes of lobbyists to come up with a classification of ways to talk about the election while keeping it corporate. After all, that’s what LinkedIn is for — and, as one EU lobbyist put it to my colleague Sarah Wheaton, more Trump means more work for them.
1. The wake-up callers/“I told you so”s. They had seen it coming all along, of course, while everyone else was just naive. They emphasize just how far ahead of their time they are, with a personal anecdote or a global fact proving their point (that they simply didn’t tell anyone before, because they didn’t want to brag about their foresight and embarrass the pollsters). They pepper their posts with dramatic emojis before moving on to the next phase: How these challenging times call for radical responses. Then, for the cherry on top — how those exact radical responses happen to be … exactly the things they pushed for during the past five years. Strategic autonomy, anyone?
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2. The not-yet-elected political opponents. They’re think tankers or NGO advocates for now, but they can see their moment in the sun starting to emerge on the horizon. They’re seizing the moment to trot out lines like: Europe needs / should / has no time for / has no choice but … [fill in accordingly]. Want more details on the hows? Go read the author’s political platform for 2038 — ahem, we mean their report on competitiveness in the plastic industry — published two years ago! Everything was already in it! It’s a shame nobody cared to read it. Never mind, we’ll hear all about it soon, just as soon as they make it big.
3. The ones kissing the ring. Looking for a way to lecture people, asserting your consulting superiority while trying to find new allies now that the winds have changed? You can either come up with the good old ad hominem attack — but don’t name anyone because you never know if winds could change again — or the older and safer craft of flattery. Condemn the “arrogance” of a fictitious enemy, or say there’s no time for critique and we should just move on, looking forward to working closely with Trump’s new administration and “new opportunities,” “challenges” and “change of perspective” it brings. Tag a few ECR MEPs just in case. Or Elon Musk, in case he buys LinkedIn next.
4. The ones with “no words.” These are the most misleading — those who speak the loudest about their speechlessness, more often than not, have a solid 3,000 words that they’re about to tell you. Often, their spiel about the changing face of geopolitics, will, somewhat confusingly, feature a photo of themselves, too. But obviously, it’s not about them, that’s just “for engagement.”
IT’S ONLY OUT OF RECYCLING CONCERNS
CAPRI-SUN WANTS PLASTIC STRAWS BACK: Capri-Sun, the German concentrate juice pouch producer, is slowly but surely gathering popular support for its petition to have the European Commission review its ban on plastic straws, my colleague Marianne Gros reports. Launched in September, the petition already has 160,000 signatures — only 840,000 to go before the Commission has to take it seriously …
Never too early: The EU’s single-use plastic directive — which banned the use and sale of single use plastic straws among other things — is up for a review in 2027, and the brand expects that by then “various associations will use this to demonstrate that the desired result for certain packaging is difficult to achieve,” the firm had told POLITICO’s Morning Sustainability team back in September, when the petition was launched.
It’s not fair: Capri-Sun argues that allowing the use of a recyclable plastic straw made from the same recyclable material as the pouch (known as mono-material polypropylene) would be better from a waste management perspective. “Now, the paper straw has to be disposed of separately, which is not always practicable or contaminates plastic recycling if disposed of incorrectly,” the statement added.
Fact check: Polypropylene is one of the most popular types of plastic used for packaging, but it’s harder and more expensive to recycle. Once recycled its quality also downgrades over time. In the EU roughly 40 percent of plastic packaging is currently recycled.
COURT CORNER
SANCTION EVADERS, BEWARE. The European Union’s anti-fraud office, OLAF, has opened an investigation into a loophole allowing countries like Turkey to export sanctioned Russian oil to the bloc under a different label, my colleague Victor Jack reports. The probe comes after POLITICO revealed that millions of barrels of Moscow’s fuel were likely arriving in the bloc after being rebranded in Turkey, despite its ban on such Russian imports.
MORE CASH FOR EPPO. During his hearings, budget commissioner Piotr Serafin played up the need to invest more in EPPO, the body which is tasked with rooting out criminal abuse of EU money and is embroiled in a spending spat with the Commission. The Polish official said that EU capitals have much to gain financially from EPPO dismantling organized criminal networks across the bloc, my colleague Gregorio Sorgi writes in to report. If we do not address organized crime at EU level it will not be addressed at all, he told MEPs.
In the spotlight:
— Former vice-president of France’s Grand Est region suspected of corruption by Huawei (Rue 89 Strasbourg)
— Former right-hand man of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is under judicial investigation for influence peddling and corruption, while a historic figure of the ecofeminist left, allied to the Socialists, is the target of accusations of sexual assault. (Le Monde)
— Former Moldovan prime minister is to be judged in Paris for alleged corruption (Gotham)
— European Commission not aware of 90 percent of EU fraud cases, EU Chief Prosecutor says (Follow the Money)
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HEARINGS TALK OF THE TOWN AT TIKTOK PARTY: The hearings were extensively discussed at TikTok’s party at the posh Merode business club on Tuesday evening, my dispatched colleague Pieter Haeck writes in to report. The company wanted to show off some Brussels-based companies present on the platform, like the Brussels Beer Project. Both that booth and those with sushi and doughnuts had long queues. Brussels’ mayor Philippe Close canceled his appearance at the last minute.
However, as the stars of the EU tech policy bubble never say no to a good party, they were of course in attendance. Morning Tech was on the ground and SPOTTED TikTok’s Paolo Ganino, FTI Consulting‘s Mireia Quingles (who manages the TikTok account at FTI), Digital Europe‘s Julien Chasserieau and Hugh Kirk, ITI‘s Marco Leto Barone, DOT Europe’s Constantin Gissler, Deliveroo‘s Ronan Breen, Bloomberg‘s (and Morning Tech alumnus) Gian Volpicelli, and POLITICO‘s Antoaneta Roussi, Federica di Sario and of course, Pieter.
INFLUENCERS
SPORT
Antonio Amendola, a senior advisor for FTI Consulting, is rumored to be in the short list to become the CEO of Roma football club, la Repubblica reports. This comes at a time when the club has been engulfed in a massive hack-for-hire scandal rocking Italian political elites. Contacted, he did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
TOBACCO
Jan Bernas, a former spokesperson for the Socialist and Democrats group in the Parliament, is the new Director EU communications of Philip Morris. The news triggered a comment from NGO Alliance contre le tabac, calling to shed more light on the growing influence of tobacco lobbies within the EU institutions.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Jesper Carlsson, former Policy Advisor at the Commission, is now EU Affairs Manager at the Swedish Bankers’ Association.
ENERGY
Steve McNab joins DWF as a partner and UK Head of Decarbonisation & Energy Projects. He was previously Head of Environment & Climate Change at Simmons & Simmons.
Chris Wright joins DWF as a Director and UK Head of Nuclear from Stephenson Harwood where he was Head of Nuclear.
Mattijs Bolk joined Equans Netherlands as Head of Innovation. Previously, he was Head of Dutch Ventures and Open Innovation at Ørsted.
TECH
Previously a consultant for H/Advisors Cicero, Sophie Walter is now the European Public Affairs and Communications Lead at the Appeals Centre Europe.
EU INSTITUTIONS
Former EU ambassador to Ukraine Matti Maasikas has started as the new managing director for Europe at the European External Action Service.
CONSULTANCY
Thomas Murray joins Euros / Agency Group as Director of the Brussels office. He takes over from Sloan Moreau, and will work alongside Laurence Leclerc, Deputy Director of the office.
After a short stopover at GMTL Advisory, Brandon Barford has started as Director of International Policy Analysis at Observatory Group.
H/Advisors, in opening its new Brussels office, has appointed Antonio Cunha Vaz as Executive Chairman, and Helena Walsh as Chief Executive Officer.
Viorica Spac has been promoted to Account Director at Hanover Communications.
Un grand merci à: Pieter Haeck, Aitor Hernandez, Sarah Wheaton, Gregorio Sorgi, Šejla Ahmatović, my editors Nathalie Weatherald, Khushbu Shah and Corine.
Correction: Our apologies. This edition has been updated to clarify the roles of Antonio Cunha Vaz and Helena Walsh, and to include the rights of replies of Atlas Network. Last week’s edition has also been updated to better reflect Dilek Kalayci’s role. He was appointed vice consul at the representative office in Brussels of the Turkish north.