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BRUSSELS – The Commission is on lockdown – at least when it comes to its dealings with the US.

Euractiv has learned that the Commission is setting up a secretive ‘clearing house’ for American affairs, a star chamber of top panjandrums who will ensure that nothing more than a friendly nod with a US passport holder can happen without the watchers’ knowledge.

If past clearing houses are anything to go by, potentially any interaction between Commission staff and anyone from the US – be they government officials, lobbyists, journalists, or mischievous grey squirrels – has to be approved by the clearing house, or heads will roll.

The same goes for any public or private discussion of EU-US affairs with anyone, from little birds to the Euractiv hacks they talk to.

Russia and China get similar treatment. But they are adversaries, while the Americans – at least on paper – remain Europe’s friends.

There’s also a clearing house for dealing with the British, five years on from Brexit’s denouement, from which Brussels insiders “still have post-traumatic stress disorder,” one EU diplomat said.

Early last year, well before the election of “Tariff Man” Trump, the EU executive set to work preparing for “all possible outcomes” from the election, a Commission spokesperson said.

Commission top brass recently held crisis talks on Trump’s new trade war in a ‘secure room’ – an isolated faraday cage that no phone signals can penetrate.

Why they went to such extreme lengths isn’t entirely clear, though anxiety about US electronic surveillance can’t be ruled out. In any case, the discussion addressed how Brussels could respond to Trump’s tariffs, sources tell Euractiv.

There are a few such ‘secure rooms’ inside the Commission’s trade department, known as the Charlemagne building, as well as one inside Commission headquarters, the Berlaymont.

After being contacted by Euractiv about the clearing house, a Commission spokesperson said in an e-mail:

“A clearing house is a strictly internal operating procedure focused on public and private messaging towards third countries and contacts with these third countries.”

“Third country” is Brussels jargon for ‘not us,’ meaning any non-EU and non-EEA nation that isn’t Switzerland.

The spokesperson said the Commission and the EU’s diplomatic service “regularly set up clearing houses for coordinating the different contacts they have with specific third countries, mainly during political[ly] sensitive periods such as government transitions.”

“This approach has been used in the past with the US and other partners,” the spokesperson added. “Its role is to ensure good coordination, efficiency of outreach, and unity of messaging.”

But that statement downplays the significance of the clearing house just a tad: this is not how the Commission normally deals with countries beyond the EU’s frontiers.

Publicly, EU leaders have been careful to remain calm and even optimistic about Trump’s return to the White House after the four-year Biden interregnum.

But away from the cameras, they’re battening down the hatches at the good ship Berlaymont.

Roundup
Security – Ukraine was never promised NATO membership as part of an eventual peace deal, Mark Rutte said on Friday, appearing to side with the interpretation put forward by the US defence secretary earlier this week.

Agrifood – At the world’s largest organic fair, Biofach, traders demanded answers from EU legislators on issues they feel threaten the bloc’s flourishing commerce with non-EU countries.

Energy – Fast growth in electricity consumption is forecast for most countries, but the IEA identifies Europe as the sole laggard.

Across Europe 

Italy – Over a hundred workers from the organisation managing the Italy-Albania migration centres have been dismissed “until further notice,” Italian newspaper reports.

Germany – Berlin passed on Friday its first federal law to tackle domestic violence though it will take another seven years to fully implement it.

Hungary – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chișinău summoned the Russian ambassador on Thursday after several Russian military drones crossed the southern region of Moldova during the night of February 12-13.

Czechia – The Czech parliament has cleared the way for the criminal prosecution of far-right party leader Tomio Okamura (ESN) over campaign posters targeting minorities and immigrants.

[MK]