HOWDY. Sarah Wheaton here with your Friday edition of Brussels Playbook — and the last by this author. Thank you for starting your days with me.
Not riding off into the sunset: I’ll start next week as editor for POLITICO’s agriculture and food coverage, and you can still catch me weekly on the EU Confidential podcast. I’m leaving you in the capable hands of Gerardo Fortuna, Nick Vinocur and the rest of the POLITICO team; Nick will be with you, trusty as always, for Monday’s edition. See ya ‘round!
DRIVING THE DAY: TRUMP-PUTIN BILAT 
HUNGARY PREPS FOR UKRAINE TALKS: After a two-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin late Thursday, Donald Trump announced the two would meet in Budapest in the coming weeks. “I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation,” the American president said on Truth Social.
But first … Trump is slated to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office at 5 p.m. Brussels time today. (Per Axios, the Ukrainian president had just landed at Andrews Airforce Base outside Washington when Trump posted his Putin meet-up plans.)
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Putin’s preemption: Before the call, Kyiv had high hopes that Trump would keep saber-rattling about giving Ukraine Tomahawk cruise missiles in an effort to pressure Putin into a ceasefire. But shortly after the chat, Trump told reporters the U.S. can’t “deplete” its own supply of the powerful weapons. (The Kremlin, in its readout of the call, said Putin reiterated his opposition to the weapons transfers.)
Timeline: Trump later told reporters that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would lead meetings with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov next week, and he expects the Budapest meeting would happen in about two weeks (but then it’s always two weeks, isn’t it?).
Not another Budapest Memorandum: The location is a bitter irony for Kyiv. After all, it was in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum that Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees. What’s more, Hungary dropped out of the International Criminal Court earlier this year, just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited. Like Putin, he faced an ICC arrest warrant that evidently won’t be enforced.
Point of pride: “Hungary is the island of PEACE!” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared on X. The summit is a huge prize for his government, even as Hungary remains a top holdout against Europe fulfilling Trump’s demand to stop buying Russian oil.
Everyone’s got a Substack now. Top Fidesz strategist Balázs Orbán noted in his new newsletter that while Brussels has been largely left out of Washington’s negotiations with the warring parties, Hungary’s posturing gives it “a distinctive role within the EU by providing a diplomatic environment” for the talks.
HOW IT’S PLAYING: Longtime observers of the conflict tended to see the phone call as just the latest example of Putin playing Trump. “We’re back where we were in the summer, where the interest in peace from Trump is driven by a desire for spectacle,” said Ian Garner, an expert on Russia at the Pilecki Institute in Warsaw. (Read more here.)
The spectacle was also the top prediction of an EU diplomat: “Big smiles, warm handshakes, some declaration on limiting long missiles … and nothing much about war in Ukraine.” But this diplomat — not known for optimism — said the planned meeting doesn’t “automatically” signal that Trump is reversing the pro-Ukraine tilt we’ve seen from the White House lately, noting that his policy of meeting Putin after there’s been progress at a lower level is consistent.
Right on cue: It was Putin’s customary history lecture in Alaska that pushed Trump closer to Ukraine, the FT reports this morning.
Wandel durch Handel à la Trump: Also noted in Trump’s Truth Social post last night: He said he and Putin spent a “great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over.”
WHEN YOU DIP I DIP EDIP: Meanwhile in Brussels, after protracted negotiations, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached an agreement on the €1.5 billion European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP) late on Thursday. Negotiators agreed military equipment can’t have more than 35 percent of its components made outside the EU and associated countries to be eligible for EDIP money. More in Morning Defense.
SELMAYR SPECULATION
KALLAS’ UNDIPLOMATIC STRATEGY: Could tensions between the Berlaymont and the European External Action Service get any worse? Speculation is ricocheting around the Schuman roundabout as insiders contemplate the return of Martin Selmayr to Brussels as a top aide to foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Nick Vinocur reports in this dishy piece.
Wait, who even is this guy, Gen-Zers and other Brussels newbies may ask. Selmayr was, like, ex-Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s equivalent of von der Leyen Cabinet chief Bjoern Seibert. Both German, both from the center right, both seen as highly effective operators — albeit with very different MOs. Selmayr’s brashness earned him the nickname “Monster of the Berlaymont,” while Seibert is — as Nick wrote in a recent profile of the latter, “a merciless T-1000 liquid metal Terminator versus the laconic, clunkier older generation T-800 model played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.”
What they’re saying: “Member states are worried that a nomination of Selmayr could further strain relations between EEAS and Commission,” said one senior EU diplomat.
Bets are in: Another told of a national delegation spending the whole day discussing a possible Selmayr return. But they reached the conclusion that Brussels was only big enough for one titan, and that Seibert would find a way to block him.
Selmayr declined to comment on “speculation” about his potential departure from his current EEAS posting, to the Vatican and U.N. agencies in Rome.
Your guide to the nicknames: We’ll let you in on a little revelation gleaned from some late-night texting with Berlin Playbooker Hans von der Burchard. We’ve seen (and admittedly used) several different monikers for Selmayr, but in reality, they all refer to different entities:
— Monster of the Berlaymont: Selmayr.
— Beast of the Berlaymont: Pascal Lamy, legendary chief of staff to Commission President Jacques Delors from 1985 to 1994 and role model for Selmayr. (Lamy is still at it, by the way, venting to a bunch of reporters about the Commission’s lame messaging around expanding the single market at a breakfast Playbook attended Thursday morning.)
— Berlaymonster: Parody X account.
SEEKING INSIDE INTEL
GREENS WANT PARLIAMENT PROBE OF HUNGARY SPYING ALLEGATIONS: An inquiry committee should be set up to look into reports that the Hungarian perm rep was a base for spying on EU officials, the Parliament’s Greens will urge later today.
From Budapest with love? “We need to clarify what role Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, formerly the head of the Hungarian EU delegation, may have played in this alleged network,” Greens Co-President Terry Reintke will say in a statement, which was shared early with Playbook. “An espionage network infiltrating European institutions crosses every red line.” The plenary is slated to debate the allegations next week.
Indirect denial: Várhelyi, through a Commission spokesperson, said he was “not aware” of alleged espionage efforts by Viktor Orbán’s government, but hasn’t replied to requests for comment.
That could soon change. The Parliament’s budgetary control committee just added Várhelyi to the list of (now) 15 commissioners who’ll be called to answer lawmakers’ questions as part of the process for signing off on the EU executive’s previous-year use of its own budget, German Green Daniel Freund, the lead MEP on the so-called budget discharge, told Playbook.
MEP to Eurocrats: rat out the Commission! In a way that’s not so covert, Freund is also hoping to recruit Commission staff to share unflattering secrets. The budget discharge process gives lawmakers a chance to do some muckraking in the other institutions, and Freund is making a public appeal for help from the 35,000-odd civil servants in the Commission: “If anyone has anything that they think is not going well … I would be interested in hearing that.”
Waste, fraud, abuse, you name it: Freund said his staff will look into claims and then ask relevant commissioners or directors-general about them. Email is best for efficiency, snail mail for anonymity, he said.
Deadlines: The first commissioners are due to appear before MEPs on Nov. 5, and the whole report is due before Christmas. So “they shouldn’t wait too long” to speak up, Freund said.
MORE BUDGET BATTLES
COMMISSION SLAPS DOWN FITTO: Regions Commissioner Raffaele Fitto said the EU executive was open to “improving” a key plank of its seven-year budget proposal. Hours later, the Commission spokespersons service — which reports directly to von der Leyen — wanted you to know it was not, in fact, open to such improvements to the MFF proposal at this point.
It was a rare public display of disagreement within the upper echelons of the Berlaymont, and Gregorio Sorgi has the full backstory here.
BY THE WAY, the European Socialists would like to see some improvements: Following threats to reject von der Leyen’s flagship national plans in the EU budget — which would pool funds for farmers and regions into one single pot managed by national capitals — the Socialists sent their specific demands to the Commission president on Thursday in a letter obtained by POLITICO’s Max Griera.
More power to regions, more money for farmers: The center-left wants a “more binding” role for regions in disbursing the cash, and some funds should also be clearly earmarked for farmers. They also want to have “a dedicated budget line” for cash to give loans and grants for affordable housing across the EU.
SHRINKING GIANTS DEPT.
EMMANUEL MACRON PEACES OUT: The French president jetted off to Egypt on Monday while his own country was in crisis. And that was in service of his legacy. As Clea Caulcutt reports, Macron is convinced he deserves a place in the history books for his work in the Middle East.
The narrative French officials are rushing to construct: Trump’s Gaza peace plan was actually sparked by Macron’s own proposal and his lead role in pushing for recognition of Palestinian statehood at the U.N. General Assembly last month.
LISTEN UP — HOW TO GO FROM HERO TO ZERO, WITH MACRON AND MERKEL: Macron went from “Mr. Europe” eight years ago to the solitary man on the Seine. At the same time, ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s legacy is going through a sudden and sharp downgrade. On this week’s episode of the EU Confidential podcast, we consider what made these centrist pillars of Europe tank so quickly, with author John Kampfner joining POLITICO’s Clea Caulcutt and Nick Vinocur. Listen and subscribe to EU Confidential here.
IN OTHER NEWS
414 DIPLO BIGWIGS ON ISRAEL-GAZA: A growing network of former European diplomats and senior officials pushing the EU to put more pressure on the Israeli government has a fresh message in the wake of the latest ceasefire. With 414 signatories including ex-EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and former Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, the statement dated Thursday calls for the EU to “act robustly against spoilers and extremists on both sides whose actions jeopardise the establishment of a future Palestinian State,” especially “settlement expansion in the West Bank.”
MEET IN MONTENEGRO: The EU’s next Western Balkans Summit is set for June 1, 2026, in Montenegro, European Council President António Costa announced.
Montenegro’s President Jakov Milatović told POLITICO’s Seb Starcevic that his country needs the EU’s help in fighting Russian disinformation.
MAKING RUSSIA PAY 1: The EU is about to use the cash value of €140 billion worth of frozen Russian state assets to finance a mega loan to Ukraine, but the Commission still wants more, according to a document obtained by POLITICO’s Bjarke Smith-Meyer.
MAKING RUSSIA PAY 2: For much of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Moscow was able to pound Ukraine’s energy grid and suffered very little retaliation. Kyiv is now able to strike back, hard. Read more from Veronika Melkozerova here.
INDIA STILL BUYING RUSSIAN OIL: A top Indian official cast doubt on Trump’s claim that Narendra Modi had promised his country would end its purchases of Russian oil, POLITICO’s Megan Messerly reports.
TALKIN’ TO THE TALIBAN: Germany is increasingly working with the Taliban government in Afghanistan to deport migrants back to the country in large numbers, Nette Nöstlinger and Milka Fijalkowska report.
FRIDAY FEATURE: This week’s Declassified humor column is on AI’s plans to get sexy.
AGENDA
— European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Paris; meets with French President Emmanuel Macron. Press conference at 11 a.m. (Berlin Playbook has details about a planned videoconference with Macron, von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Council President António Costa, ahead of next week’s EUCO.)
— Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council in Luxembourg. Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib attends. Press conference expected at 4:30 p.m. Watch.
— Coreper II meeting at 3 p.m.
— Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is in Bratislava … meets Slovak National Council Speaker Richard Raši … meets Slovak President Peter Pellegrini.
— Party of European Socialists Congress in Amsterdam.
— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House at 5 p.m. Brussels time.
BRUSSELS CORNER
WEATHER: High of 15C, overcast.
PRESS GRIPES: If you don’t take questions, it ain’t a press conference. That’s the message from the International Press Association (API-IPA) in a complaint to Parliament President Roberta Metsola about an event held by Spanish Green MEP Ana Miranda Paz on Wednesday.
The vibe was “more akin to a political rally,” with repeated applause from attendees, API-IPA President Dafydd ab Iago wrote to Metsola in an email shared with Playbook. Only lawmakers and guests from invited groups — who were speaking about the “Leaving Home for Gaza” initiative — spoke during the 30-minute event, with no time given to journalists for questions. That was in breach of the rules for using the Parliament’s Anna Politkovskaya press room, said ab Iago, requesting a review.
Taking it seriously: There are “clear rules” for Parliament press events, read a statement from the institution’s press services to Playbook, including clearly announcing speakers and allowing time for questions. “Any complaint is duly looked into by the services.” Miranda Paz did not reply to our request for comment.
MUSIC FOR THE SUBWAY: Brussels Public Transport operator STIB is holding auditions for musicians to perform in the city’s metro stations. “We favor quality over quantity,” the company says on its website. According to VRT, artists should make travelers “feel good,” and lyrics must not contain discriminatory language.
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: Museums across Brussels are opening their doors from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Saturday night. The list of participating venues is here.
BIRTHDAYS: MEP Hannes Heide; former MEPs Eva-Maria Poptcheva and Cecilia Wikström; former European Commissioner Elisa Ferreira; Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris; Reporters Without Borders’ Bertrand Mossiat.
Celebrating Saturday: MEP Adrian-George Axinia; former MEPs Tania González Peñas and Dobromir Sośnierz; IRSEM’s Philippe Perchoc; Sopra Steria Group’s Axelle Lemaire; Marion Smith of the Common Sense Society; Austria’s perm rep spokesperson Oliver Tanzer.
Celebrating Sunday: MEP Marie-Luce Brasier-Clain; former MEP Pierre Karleskind, Beata Mazurek and Pierre Larrouturou; Playbook’s own Sarah Wheaton; Bloomberg’s Giovanna Coi; Marco Uccelli of the EFTA Surveillance Authority; Mavence’s Anna Aleksandra Koj.
THANKS TO: Max Griera, Hans von der Burchard, Gabriel Gavin, Jacopo Barigazzi, Laura Kayali and Seb Starcevic; Playbook reporter Ferdinand Knapp and producer Dean Southwell.
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