Welcome to Better Europe’s weekly update on EU Affairs.
PARLIAMENT STRIKES FIRST IN ECB WAR OF SUCCESSION
Parliament has the European Central Bank on its mind. While Trump is trying to find a way to take the printing press away from his central bankers and force them to define the interest rates that he appreciates, MEPs still believe in soft power to nudge the ECB in line with their policies. In a report adopted this week, they welcome the independence of the ECB, stress the importance of physical cash, and suggest to take a cautious approach for setting interest rates to avoid overshooting. The political fork in the road on how agile interest rate policy should be is also reflected in the appointment of a new ECB Vice-President, a decision to be taken by finance ministers next week. Six men are interested in the job, and while Parliament called for a gender-balanced line up, they grudgingly prefer the Latvian and Portuguese candidates over the other four men. However, it’s finance ministers who will ultimately decide who will second ECB Chair Christine Lagarde. The candidates are neatly split between Northern Europe (Finland and Baltics) and Southern Europe, with some hailing from countries that never had a seat on the executive board. The catch? Going for the VP post now means the trophy treasure, to be handed out next year when Lagarde’s term ends in October, is out of reach.
DIGITAL OMNIBUS: BIG TECH’S NEW YEAR’S GIFT
Brussels is waking up from a Christmas break to work on the first major Omnibus negotiations this year: the Digital Omnibus, which aims for fewer overlaps in legislation, less paperwork, and more competitiveness – we’ve heard this before. However, upon closer inspection, the package proposed in November seems less like spring cleaning and more like handing Big Tech the spare keys and pretending it’s for our own good. A report published this week by two NGOs argues that several “technical” changes would directly affect Europe’s digital rights. One example is narrowing the definition of personal data by excluding sort-of-anonymized information from the GDPR’s scope. Another one is that tech firms would be given more leeway to label data-access requests as “abusive,” which would make it harder for citizens and journalists to see what information platforms hold on them. These aren’t minor edits, as they shift the balance of power away from individuals in favour of firms whose business model depends on large-scale data extraction, the two NGOs argue. The timing is no accident: “Deregulation equals growth” is a message that the Commission believes will resonate in a Parliament where parts of the far right are eager to weaken safeguards in the name of competitiveness.
THE RETURN OF THE STRASBOURG CENSURE SHOW
The first Parliament plenary of 2026 will not be easy for Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who will gear up for her fourth confidence vote. This one comes with a familiar script: farmers, Mercosur, and a big dose of anti-Brussels politics from the far right. Now that the last failed motion is more than three months ago, the Patriots for Europe are allowed to try again, and they can’t wait to table a fresh motion of censure against the Commission. This time, their pitch is to turn the EU-Mercosur deal into a referendum on “who protects Europe”. A debate is scheduled for Monday with a vote on Thursday, on a motion that accuses the Commission of letting European farmers face “unfair competition”. However, toppling the Commission requires a two-third majority of votes cast, which won’t happen as long as the Socialists and Liberals keep supporting VDL.