The Brief – Decadent West?

One of the Kremlin’s favourite narratives is that the West is decadent. They refer, amongst other things, to what they see as the erosion of the traditional family. But first and foremost, they convey the message that democracy is weak. The EU summit starting today could confirm or quash these allegations.

Seen from the Kremlin’s perspective, this summit is the perfect storm that should devastate our union. According to their plans, it should mark a psychological turning point after which the Western support for Ukraine should collapse.

The Trojan horse for the Kremlin is, of course, Viktor Orbán, and the EU’s weakness is the unanimity needed to take decisions on a number of matters the member states consider to be sensitive, among which common foreign and security policy and EU enlargement.

All of the EU’s 27 national leaders, except Orbán, have backed the start of accession talks with Ukraine.

Various EU heads of state and government, as well as Council chief Charles Michel, have tried to convince Orbán to drop his veto on releasing financial aid to Ukraine and opening accession negotiations with Kyiv. They all failed.

Even the release by the Commission of €10 billion of frozen EU funds to Hungary didn’t mollify Orbán. The European Parliament rightfully criticised the Commission, as these funds were frozen because of the rule of law backsliding in Hungary, where there has been no improvement.

“A pivotal European Council lies ahead of us,” Michel wrote in his invitation letter.

Efforts to change Orbán’s mind will continue during the summit itself, which may last longer than the two days for which diplomats and journalists made reservations and booked tickets.

Council meetings are held behind closed doors. Sometimes the discussions are strictly confidential, and leaders are not even allowed to take their smartphones in the meeting room.

To be able to report, journalists pick up snippets of information from ‘floaters’ with access to a listening room. EU leaders make comments – the so-called “doorsteps” upon arrival and after the end of the summit, focusing on issues they want to highlight.

At the end of the summit, Council conclusions are published, which have usually been drafted in advance and are slightly updated to reflect decisions made during the meeting.

Journalists ask questions about the dispute of the day, but leaders as a rule avoid discussing their colleagues’ positions, and embellish their own narrative instead. And they are always in a hurry to leave the room.

Overall, the working conditions of journalists at EU summits are deplorable.

They lack the whole picture, which different media try to assemble as a puzzle, more or less successfully. That depends on the number of journalists involved, the quality of their sources, and often sheer luck.

Incidentally, on this same day, Vladimir Putin is holding his marathon end-of-year press conference, which will be broadcast live on Russian state television. The press conference will be followed by a carefully choreographed call-in television show for ordinary Russians called “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin”.

Emboldened by the relative success of the Russian troops in Ukraine, Putin is unlikely to avoid questions relating to the “special military operation”, which he likes to present as an aggression of NATO against Russia. He will not be in a hurry, the talk show is expected to last hours.

Reportedly, a couple of Western journalists have been accredited for the Putin show. One of them may even be able to ask a question. In contrast, the European Council doesn’t provide accreditation to Russian state media.

For the Russian propaganda machine, it’s a blessing to be able to put together the images from the Moscow media spectacle and the “decadent” EU summit. Against this background, in terms of communication, the democratic West should reflect on how to project a better image of itself.

But first and foremost, EU leaders need to show that democracy works, and that they are capable of deciding. And if they aren’t, then even in our societies, many would be tempted to vote for authoritarian leaders like Orbán.

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The Roundup

The EU’s common budget should not fund Ukraine, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said upon arriving in Brussels for a crucial summit on Thursday, as EU leaders are scrambling to boost their long-term support for Kyiv.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov acknowledged on Thursday that Budapest had warned his country it would veto its Schengen accession unless Sofia lifted a tax that made it more expensive for Hungary to import Russian gas via Bulgarian territory.

The European Union reached a political agreement on Thursday to reform the bloc’s electricity market, ending months of protracted talks between the European Parliament and EU member states on how to finance new low-carbon generation capacity.

Negotiators of the EU Council and Parliament agreed on Thursday after an all-night discussion a compromise deal on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), including on the most controversial aspects of the inclusion of finance and on the obligation to implement climate plans.

European Union farming subsidies should be compulsorily capped to cope with the accession of agricultural powerhouse Ukraine, according to the EU’s Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski, as discussions heat up about the future shape of the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform.

EU policymakers reached a political agreement on Thursday on legislation to bring the bloc’s product liability regime in line with technological developments, notably covering digital products like software, which includes Artificial Intelligence.

European Parliament approved on Wednesday a report addressing the burden of non-communicable diseases with the main focus aimed at prevention and a controversial approach to alcohol intake.

Don’t miss this week’s EU Politics Decoded: The loaded language of von der Leyen’s migration letter.

Look out for…

• European summit on Ukraine aid, enlargement, EU budget continues on Friday.
• Commission President Ursula von der Leyen receives Polish PM Donald Tusk on Friday.

Views are the author’s

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Nathalie Weatherald]