Brussels diary

Last year, the Czech Republic took up the reins of the EU only to replace its ministerial team half-way through its presidency when its accident-prone government imploded. In July, Belgium takes over the rotating presidency expecting to have to do the same. Bitterly divided between French and Dutch speakers, Belgium has been in a state of political ferment for years, and its June general election was won by Bart De Wever, a Flemish separatist who wants to do away with the country altogether. Efforts to cobble together a coalition government are likely to take until autumn. While it may be a disaster for Belgian unity, the feuding could be the EU’s salvation. For the last six months an increasingly desperate Spanish government has tried to squeeze domestic kudos out of holding the EU presidency even though it was supposed to play a limited role under the now-ratified Lisbon treaty. The result was that the new permanent president of the European council, Herman Van Rompuy, had to compete with the attention-seeking Spanish Premier, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. And Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spain’s foreign minister, hardly hid the fact that he knows rather more about the world than the EU’s new foreign affairs supremo, Catherine Ashton. By contrast, Belgium’s caretaker politicians expect to play a lower-key role—as envisaged by the authors of Lisbon. True, there will be dislocation if, as expected, the chairmanship of ministerial councils switches sometime in the autumn. That could present problems for finance ministers who meet both as a eurogroup (representing the 16 nations inside the single currency) and Ecofin, which includes the full 27 nations. The eurogroup has been a vital forum during the first few months of the year as the debt crisis engulfed the single currency. “It’s become a real club where they have got to know each other,” said one official who added that the Belgian finance minister, Didier Reynders, has been a key player. Having to replace him while the euro is in trouble could prove a headache. But for heads of government and foreign ministers, the absence of a posturing presidency will be an advantage. The void will give Van Rompuy and Ashton a chance to consolidate their influence. And the Belgians are sanguine, since it is not as if they will be absent from EU policymaking. Van Rompuy is a former Belgian premier and his chef de cabinet, Frans Van Daele, is a wily operator who will be pulling the strings. Equally influential is the able Belgian permanent representative to the EU, Jean De Ruyt, who will orchestrate the agenda and chair the meetings of Coreper where the 27 ambassadors meet. Their country may be falling apart, but the Belgians still own the EU. Whither Paddy? Against many predictions Paddy Ashdown, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, was not brought into Britain’s new coalition cabinet. Rumours abound that he could become an EU Balkan envoy, but the idea, leaked by Catherine Ashton’s office, has won few fans. Ashdown has form as a former international high representative (a sort of modern-day viceroy) for Bosnia Herzegovina. But as Ashton is learning, it’s little use punting such ideas without first winning the support of other key EU countries. They have failed to rally behind the plan, suspecting it is inspired by London which is demanding a more “muscular” approach to the Balkans. And Ashdown’s macho style was not universally popular in the region itself. Asked about the idea, one influential Balkan politician denied any knowledge before adding, off the record, “it looks like a man in search of a job.” Whose belt to tighten? If anyone in Brussels ought to believe in austerity it is Olli Rehn, the economics and monetary affairs commissioner whose job it is to force the Greek government to take the axe to public spending. But should Rehn be willing to take a pay cut himself in sympathy? Salaries at the European commission are set by a complex formula based on what happens to civil service pay in the member states. That means that any reductions this year around the EU would feed through to the pockets of eurocrats in some form next year. Such a situation would not, of course, prevent a gesture from the commissioners who are hardly on the breadline. Asked about this by a Spanish journalist at a press conference, Rehn for once stopped emphasising the importance of strong leadership, belt tightening and fiscal rectitude. Salaries, he replied, were not his departmental responsibility. Press gagged Meanwhile, in the commission press service a new figure of fear is stalking the land. For the first time in years commission spokespeople are having to clear even minor pronouncements with the head of the operation, a bright, articulate, multilingual Belgian by the rhyming name of Koen Doens. In many administrations this would be standard practice but in Brussels, where it is normal for press officers to slate their commissioner’s internal rivals, it counts as extreme control freakery. The results are mixed. The good news is that a sense of discipline has pervaded the press service. The bad news is that morale has collapsed and the commission press team is producing, well, practically no news.