Hello and welcome to EU Influence! I’m Mari Eccles, following the action at Alden Biesen and wondering why POLITICO’s retreats are never held at a remote Schloss.
On the agenda this week:
— Conservative groups are bringing one of the fiercest culture wars to Belgium.
— Qatar gets welcomed back into the fold in the EU Parliament. But why is everyone being so secretive?
— An EU Bubble matchmaker gives us her Valentine’s Day tips.
CONSERVATIVE LOBBYING
CULTURE WARS: Could one of the more vicious fights in anglophone politics be coming to Brussels? That’s what groups monitoring the rise of conservative influence in Europe believe, pointing to a growing number of anti-transgender activists who have been speaking in Brussels in recent weeks.
Tracking the increase: Chief among them was a two-day event — the “Seventh Transatlantic Summit” — hosted in the European Parliament last week with speakers including Rodrigo Iván Cortés, founder of Mexico’s National Front for the Family, who has been convicted of gender-based political violence against a transgender Congresswoman. The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, a U.S-based outfit, said that speakers “mocked transgender people, and lamented bans on ‘conversion therapy.’” The summit organizers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In December, Chris Elston (also known as Billboard Chris), an Australian anti-trans influencer, spoke at the Parliament after being invited by an AfD parliamentarian, Christine Anderson. Meanwhile, MCC Brussels, a prominent think tank linked to the Hungarian government, co-hosted a panel at the end of last year in the European Parliament titled “The Trans Ideology Threat,” hosted by Fidesz lawmaker András László, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New for Brussels: Neil Datta, executive director and founder of the European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF), said the wider, more heated debate around trans issues has largely been imported to Brussels. “You find that this contestation takes place in certain ways in certain countries, like in the U.S or the U.K., where it’s become the most toxic. In Belgium, it’s not like that at all.”
Institutionally welcomed: “It absolutely is our perception that there are more anti-trans actors getting access to spaces in Brussels and that the types of spaces that they are able to access are more institutionalized,” said Cianan Russell, senior policy officer at ILGA-Europe (the European branch of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association), pointing out that there have been at least five such events in the European Parliament in the last year. “It’s one of those subjects that is easy politically to attack because we’re talking about a small community of people that are widely misunderstood,” Russell said.
Growing trend: Wendy Via, co-founder of Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said last week’s conference saw speakers making “openly anti-trans statements.” Among them was British Catholic priest Benedict Kiely, who the group said compared transgender identity to people identifying as animals. Kiely did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “The American groups behind Project 2025 [a right-wing wishlist for the second Donald Trump term] and their allies are increasingly working with European political figures and think tanks to target and dehumanize the trans community,” Via said. “Cruelly stripping human rights protections from trans people is the first phase of their global imperative to erase the LGBTQ+ community entirely and take back the hard-won rights protections from women across the world.”
Manufactured: Datta has said in the past that it’s an issue that has been identified by conservatives as one that can split those on the left. While there are some “technical” or “legal” discussions that might be relevant to be discussed around bathrooms or sports, he argues that conservative Christian organizations in the U.S. “saw that there was a fight happening there” and considered it to be a “fight that could be useful for them” in Brussels.
Case in point: He pointed to comments from U.S. President Donald Trump to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte last year, when he said to mention transgender issues just before an election: “Bring it up, because you can’t lose.”
Wider anti-gender rhetoric: Datta also argues that the increased presence of conservative groups in Europe — through events organized by the Heritage Foundation and its constellation of far-right and populist partners — is part of a broader “anti-gender” movement.
Hitting back: Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, a gender-critical activist who spoke at the Parliament in November as part of MCC’s event, told Influence at the time that transgender rights are “very much not a grassroots movement, but a top-down, well-funded movement.” And she pushed back on the idea that a backlash against transgender rights is being deliberately pushed by conservative activists who see it as an opportunity to splinter the left. “I think it’s the other way around. I think it’s the arrogance of the left and the contempt that the left has for women that has enabled women to leave the left.”
The November event invite accuses the EU of being “addicted to gender ideology,” despite what the organizers describe as an “an enormous backlash” across the EU. “For European elites, trans ideology is a key ‘EU value’ which no one is allowed to question,” it adds.
Russell told Influence: “The access to resources for LGBTI and trans movement is rapidly shrinking,” which they blame partly on the USAID cuts, but also on an “anti-NGO” funding shift happening in Brussels. “The opposition do not receive their resources from public funds in the way that pro-rights organizations do,” they added. “It’s really critical to ask ourselves: who benefits from the marginalization of what is already a very small and very marginalized population?”
ELECTION INFLUENCERS
HUNGARIAN THINK TANK LAUNCHES INTERFERENCE TRACKER: Speaking of MCC Brussels, Viktor Orbán’s favourite EU-based think tank is launching its own “democracy interference observatory”, which will kick off with a “detailed investigation” into Hungary’s parliamentary election in April.
Here’s looking at EU: Its comms manager John O’Brien told us that the exercise would “expose, document, and analyse how the EU and EU-linked actors shape national elections across Europe.” He said the project would reflect a “growing body of public evidence showing that modern elections are increasingly shaped … by dense networks linking EU institutions, national authorities, digital platforms, and activist NGOs.”
The evidence they speak of: O’Brien pointed to a report from U.S Republican lawmakers last week, which accused the EU of acting as a “foreign censorship threat,” arguing that it unfairly targets conservative and populist views and tries to manipulate elections in EU countries. It also claims that European Commission officials have pressured social media companies to “globally censor” content — especially on U.S and conservative publications — under the cover of fighting hate speech and misinformation.
Commission pushback: “In the face of very real threats and challenges to our societies and institutions, the Commission has taken firm and concrete steps to strengthen democratic resilience,” Commission spokesperson Markus Lammert told us. Lammert pointed to initiatives such as the European Democracy Shield, the European Media Freedom Act, new transparency rules on political advertising and party financing, along with the Digital Services Act.
Transparency corner: A Transparency Register filing last year showed that MCC Brussels had received more than €6 million to “acquaint and influence European policy makers,” with more than 99 percent of those funds being part of a grant from Mathias Corvinus Collegium Alapítvány — a Budapest-based educational institution controlled by close political allies of Orbán.
Is MCC in line to receive cash from the United States government?: The FT reported last week that the U.S. is getting ready a pot of funding for MAGA-aligned organizations in Europe. We asked O’Brien, who told us they’re not receiving any yet (in fact, no one is), but he didn’t sound opposed to the idea, even if in jest: “I may forward your email to the U.S. State Department as a rather ringing endorsement of our work.”
COMING IN FROM THE COLD
WHITHER QATARGATE?: The European Parliament’s delegation for the Gulf countries held its first meeting this morning with Qatar after a diplomatic freeze following the cash-for-influence scandal that broke in 2022, top colleague Max Griera writes in. That’s even though the case is still awaiting a final verdict in the Belgian courts and Qatar stands accused of having bribed members of the Parliament.
No trace: The meeting details — its agenda, or even the fact that it’s happening at all — are nowhere to be found on the Parliament’s website, as would usually be the case. The lead lawmaker on Arab Peninsula relations, Reinhold Lopatka, confirmed the meeting to Max. “I am confident that we can strengthen dialogue and cooperation with our partners from Qatar for our mutual benefit,” he said.
On the agenda, obtained by Max: EU-Qatar interparliamentary cooperation, “enhanced cooperation” amidst security concerns around the world and in the region (code for U.S. and Sudan), and bilateral economic cooperation “with particular focus on trade, investment, renewable energy and sustainable development.” The Qataris are also likely to push for a bilateral visa liberalization, one official pointed out.
Who’s attending: Yousef bin Ali Al-Khater, chair of the internal and external affairs committee of the Shura Council, leads the Qatari delegation. From the EU side, Lopatka and several other MEPs are in attendance, as well as the Commission’s Mathieu Briens, director for the Gulf at DG MENA.
Restrictions lifted: Following Qatargate, Qatari lobby representatives were banned from entering the Parliament, while diplomats and country officials had restricted, surveilled access. Those restrictions were lifted in February 2025 by the Parliament’s leadership.
LOVE IN THE BUBBLE: Saturday is Valentine’s Day, which gives Influence the perfect opportunity to ask for specific dating advice and dress it up as a legitimate newsletter feature. Top colleague Sebastian Starcevic and I asked Marjorie Libourel, a Brussels-based matchmaker who works with clients in the Bubble, for her take on how she’d go about pairing up some of the top EU names (Note: These are hypothetical. We’re sure all the commissioners aren’t in the market for love).
Ursula von der Leyen: A very successful woman, Type A, very career-focused and occasionally isolated. Libourel would pair her with a “discreet, reliable, solid and grounded” man like Margaret Thatcher’s husband, Denis. “I believe strong, successful women and political leaders overall need humble and supportive partners. No political rivals,” she said.
Glenn Micallef: Very sporty, enjoys the outdoors; just a kid at heart, Type B personality. Libourel said: “I would picture him with a dynamic, no-drama woman who is emotionally steady, enjoys an active lifestyle and can appreciate the small pleasures of life. She is fit, youthful, smiling, active and easy going.”
Maroš Šefčovič: Can build your IKEA furniture, will pick you up from the airport (on time). “To me, he comes across as a good family man, who is a stable and long-lasting union marriage,” said Libourel. ” My intuition tells me he could have met his wife a long time ago, perhaps on the university benches. Boring perhaps, but efficient and stable, just like a well-maintained nuclear plant! (Not Chernobyl though).”
Dubravka Šuica: Mediterranean woman with a strong personality. “I see her with a solid masculine man of similar cultural roots,” said Libourel. “Together they embody and radiate warmth, and are open to the external world, inspiring people around them.”
Kaja Kallas: Doomsday prepper mentality, very Type A, hypervigilant and anxious about the state of the world. “When I look at Kaja, the words intelligence, cerebral, and overthinker come to me. Perhaps even some anxiety,” she said. “My gut feeling tells me despite her great intellectual capacities, she needs a very emotionally intelligent man able to soothe her potential anxiety and welcome her complexity without judgment, love and tenderness. “
Stéphane Séjourné: Very goal-oriented, ambitious, and focused on success; classic overachieving, highly educated, and discreet about his private life. “Stéphane comes across as extremely focused, discreet, efficient and even perfectionist. I see him with a partner possessing equal attributes. An ambitious, discreet and intelligent man with a great career perhaps in an area such as finance or law or who is at least less publicly exposed. Together, they work hard, and have a solid long-term partnership where they support each other’s careers and aspirations and keep building their careers, assets and networks.”
Even if you’re not a commissioner: but still hoping to impress on a first date this Saturday, Marjorie said: “Dinners can be great but they can be very static so I tell people to keep it casual. Going for a walk with a coffee in Bois de la Cambre is perfectly fine for me, just to break the ice.”
INDUSTRY INFLUENCE
INFLUENCING URSULA: Is European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen being overly swayed by industry? That was the claim being made this week by a coalition of NGOs, which pointed out that she met with CEFIC, the European chemical industry’s primary lobby group, just hours before hosting her leaders’ retreat today. On that agenda (as if you didn’t know already): competitiveness, something many NGOs view as a “systematic rollback of vital climate, environmental and social protections.”
Not for the first time: The group, including Friends of the Earth Europe, European Environmental Bureau, Corporate Europe Observatory, and Transparency International EU, says this is part of a “recurring pattern” of the Commission prioritizing access for corporate interests.
In figures: They point to numbers which show that 40 percent of meetings held by Commissioners’ cabinet members were with individual companies, and 29 percent with business associations. NGOs accounted for only 16 percent of those meetings.
VdL meeting count: When we crunched the numbers, just over half of the meetings von der Leyen has held in her second mandate as Commission chief have been with industry. Do those figures tell us much? Not really, given the Commission president has only declared 21 meetings since November 2024 — with no meetings being uploaded in 2026 so far. Of those, 11 have been with industry.
LATEST COMPLAINT AGAINST INDUSTRY ACCESS: Three animal welfare NGOs have filed a complaint with the European Ombudsman about the Commission’s exchanges with the fur industry, as the EU executive mulls over its response to the Fur Free Europe citizens’ initiative, Lucia Mackenzie writes in. The Commission is set to give its two-cents on the future of the EU’s fur sector by the end of March, after citizens called for a ban on the practice. The Commission may instead recommend improving welfare standards on farms, an alternative that animal welfare groups argue flies in the face of a European Food Safety Authority determination that, in most cases, substantial improvements to welfare can’t be made in the current systems.
The latest: Now animal welfare groups argue that the Commission has “breached the principle of political equality” by giving a stronger voice to the fur industry in its stakeholder engagement activities than to civil society organizations. A Commission spokesperson told Lucia said that it “ensures that EU policies remain evidence-based … thanks to a variety of consultation activities with stakeholders,” adding: “any stakeholder has the right to contact the Commission on matters of interest to them.”
INBOX OVERLOAD
COMPETITIVENESS HYPE: If von der Leyen wanted to create a hype around competitiveness, she’s definitely succeeded, Francesca Micheletti writes in. In the lead up to today’s leaders’ retreat in a castle in the Belgian countryside, industry groups have been on a roll, flooding inboxes with position papers and calls to action — each with their own, very similar recipe to save Europe’s industry.
Opening salvo: An op-ed by industry chief Stéphane Séjourné last week fired the opening salvo, with his call for “Made in Europe” — quickly dubbed in EU corridors as “Made in France.” The op-ed triggered automakers and just about everyone else, exposing a new rift between France and Germany.
Overwhelmed by paper: The trouble is, the papers look startlingly similar, to the point that, come Wednesday, even experienced reporters weren’t really able to tell whether they’d already seen the latest one or not. The calls to slash red tape are omnipresent, with camps forming around good red tape (the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) and bad red tape (the Emissions Trading System).
Best to stay out of it: Throwing yourself into the mix might not be the best strategy to get your message across, according to experts. “It’s just a wall of noise,” said Ayrton Thevissen, a partner at consulting firm FGS Global, which advises global corporations on lobbying strategies. “It’s impossible to break through it, so just don’t,” were his words of wisdom to clients this week.
ACCESS ALL AREAS
DENIED ENTRY: The European Parliament’s committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is pushing President Roberta Metsola not to reinstate access to Amazon lobbyists — even after the company’s senior vice president, David Zapolsky, finally turned up to a grilling by MEPs last month. Lobbyists for the tech firm have been barred from accessing the Parliament since early 2024, after parliamentarians accused the company of obstructing scrutiny efforts and snubbing hearings. But the lead lawmakers in the committee said that even when they did show up, the company’s rep “failed to provide satisfactory answers to the questions and concerns raised during the hearing,” according to a letter drawn up by the committee’s left-wing chair, Li Andersson, and seen by colleague Mathieu Pollet. That should mean they remain barred, Andersson argues.
Open door policy: Amazon’s spokesperson Sarah Tapp said the company would “welcome” members of the EMPL committee to visit its European facilities.
Going nowhere: An EU official, granted anonymity to speak freely, told Influence that the EMPL lawmakers who still want to shut out Amazon may be out of luck. “Now that Amazon has attended the hearing and has committed to allowing a fact-finding mission as requested, then there is no longer an issue with reinstating their badges.”
But, but, but: If that visit doesn’t take place, then the Parliament would review the badges again, the official continued.
BUTT OUT: Meanwhile, health-focused lawmakers say the Parliament should be limiting meetings between MEPs and the tobacco industry, Rory O’Neill reports. A draft letter offered for signature to parliamentarians this week, penned by Socialist MEP Nicolás González Casares and Green MEP Tilly Metz, says the Parliament should follow the World Health Organization’s tobacco treaty, which says public officials should only meet with the tobacco industry when it is “strictly necessary” to regulate it.
Networking: There were 257 declared meetings between tobacco industry reps and MEPs between 2023 and 2025, the letter said.
Keeping busy: There was a flurry of meetings between MEPs and the sector over the Tobacco Excise Directive last year. The Commission is also set to revise its Tobacco Products Directive this year, meaning tobacco reps will have plenty to talk about.
INFLUENCERS
INSTITUTIONS
The European Commission has appointed Davinia Wood as the director for budget, communication and general affairs within its directorate-general for regional and urban policy (DG REGIO). She is currently serving as head of unit for political coordination, strategic management and interinstitutional relations and HR correspondent.
Madina Faiz has started a new role as speechwriter to Ilze Juhansone, Secretary-General of the European Commission. She was previously policy advisor at the Benelux Union.
Micol Bertolini, until recently a policy manager at AmChamEU, started a new job as policy adviser for the EPP group in the European Parliament’s trade committee, she announced on LinkedIn.
Danish Perm Rep tech attaché Amalie Rosenbeck Christiansen is heading back to Copenhagen, where she will be taking on a new role as a private secretary to the minister of industry, business and financial affairs.
Stephanie Pradier is switching roles at the European Parliament, from the European Parliamentary Research Service to the expenditure analysis unit of its DG for Budgetary Affairs, where she’ll be a data and process analyst.
Irene Tudela Tomàs has joined the Commission’s DG International Partnerships as a policy assistant in its health team. She was previously working as a trainee on EU4Health at the Commission’s Health & Digital Executive Agency, HaDEA.
Viviana Piccolo has joined DG MOVE as a policy assistant. She previously worked at POLITICO on the audience team.
Elisa Gallego Silva has moved from DG ENEST, where she was a legal adviser, to a policy assistant at the European Peace Facility at the European Commission.
NGOS
Romane Armangau has joined Euroconsumers to work on communication and media relations. She was previously a tech and industry reporter for Euronews.
RESEARCH
Former ambassador Tomáš Pojar, who most recently served as national security adviser to the government of the Czech Republic, will join Hudson Institute’s Center on Europe and Eurasia as a nonresident senior fellow.
INDUSTRY
Giorgia Antonucci has been promoted to adviser for the social affairs department at BusinessEurope.
Simona Camilli has been promoted to senior manager at AIM, the European Brands Association.
HEALTH CARE
Emmanuel Chantelot has joined Burson as managing director for healthcare and corporate advisory. He was previously with Pfizer, where he was vice president and head of global markets policy and public affairs.
SUSTAINABILITY
Enrico Macciotta leaves SEC Newgate, where he worked on the sustainability and trade teams, for European Metals, where he’ll work as a sustainability policy officer.
Leonie Knox-Peebles recently joined the New European Reuse Alliance (New ERA) as head of public affairs.
MOBILITY
Clara Guillén has been promoted to deputy director of communications at CLEPA, the European association of automotive suppliers.
TECH
Sofía Trénor Michelena left Amazon Web Services for Nscale, where she’ll work as VP, EU affairs.
CONSULTANCIES
Sonia Staicu recently started a new position at Bernstein Public Policy, where she leads the Brussels office as head of European affairs. Previously, she worked as senior director at the consultancy Red Flag Global.
Thanks to Mathieu Pollet, Francesca Micheletti, Max Griera, Sebastian Starcevic, Kathryn Carlson, Rory O’Neill, Eliza Gkritsi, Gerardo Fortuna, Sarah Wheaton, Lucia Mackenzie, Camille Gijs and Zia Weise, my editor Paul Dallison and producer Fiona Lally.
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