BACK IN OFFICE: We’ve monitored the entrances, checked your out-of-office replies and asked our network of spies, and the Council of the European Union seemed to be the least open institution of the summer. Some directorates had barely a soul in them, and quite a few people took more than a month off. Everyone’s back to work now, though, right?
IAN TRAYNOR, GUARDIAN EUROPE EDITOR, DIED AGED 60: The news Saturday generated an outpouring of condolences for Traynor’s three sons and fond memories of a legend among the Brussels press corps. European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas led a moment of silence Monday in the Berlaymont press room and offered a moving tribute to the late journalist, calling Traynor “a tireless and intrepid reporter.”
JACK O’SHEA’S — BRUSSELS BUTCHER SHOP SHUTTERED: Playbook reported in July that the renowned butcher to the Euro elite (who also opened a chophouse restaurant near Place Sainte-Catherine in 2015) was headed toward bankruptcy. La Libre Belgique reports that O’Shea has been hospitalized since April in Germany, following an accident. Now potential customers will find forlorn notes in the windows of the closed-up shops. According to Playbook’s source those managing the business during O’Shea’s hospitalization had trouble with suppliers and the whole show imploded. That would be a bad enough blow to Britons in Brussels, still reeling from Brexit and now facing the loss of English sausages and pork roast with crackling, but there’s also salt in the wound. The restaurant’s online booking system is still running, and some would-be patrons with reservations are still showing up only to find it closed. They have been taking to TripAdvisor to complain.
RUE DUCALE — ONCE CHIC, NOW INCREASINGLY EMPTY: One of Brussels’ most prized office locations, the street overlooking the Parc de Bruxelles and adjacent the Palais de Bruxelles, is home to an increasing number of “to let” signs. Four major vacancies on one block, in fact. If you fancy being a neighbor of the U.K. and Swiss ambassadors, the U.S. embassy or the minister-president of Brussels, then step right up. But more change is coming: The U.S. embassy plans to move to the leafy Brussels neighborhood of Watermael-Boitsfort, though the relocation is not likely to happen for several years.
HE’S A SURVIVOR! Apparently experience in the tumultuous office of European commissioner Corina Creţu qualifies one as a real survivor. Dragoş Bucurenci, the commissioner’s former communications director, will be hosting the Romanian version of the “Survivor” TV show.
Thrilled to announce that I'll be hosting the Romanian version of the revolutionary TV format #Survivor on @ProTVro pic.twitter.com/jZygHvZP5f
— Dragos Bucurenci (@bucurenci) August 17, 2016
BIG WEEK FOR SCHULZ: Martin Schulz capped off August with a bang. First he received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín, from the government of Argentina on August 22. Then the internet decided he was the father of superstar DJ Robin Schulz (he’s isn’t). Schulz’s office were at least amused at the error on the Parliament president’s Wikipedia page when it was pointed out to them by POLITICO’s Hans von der Burchard.
THE LEAVE CAMPAIGN’S GOT A DEAL FOR YOU! Arron Banks, the successful Brexit campaigner, now has a new offer, and he isn’t afraid to use the Leave.eu campaign’s mailing list to push it. He blasted the list with an email in late August offering a commercial proposition from one of his companies (GoSkippy Insurance), which is not exactly what the subscribers had in mind when they signed up. The Leave.eu campaign defended this use of private data by describing the offer as a “Brexit sponsorship deal.”
WE KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER: Commission spokesperson Mina Andreeva and her friends from Team Juncker hit the Pacha nightclub in Ibiza over the summer. Andreeva, who was for several years the Commission’s public-relations face for greater data privacy protections, posted a pic (without any privacy restrictions) on her Facebook page. Meanwhile former U.K. Chancellor George Osborne went Rambo-style in the Vietnamese jungle at a local shooting range.
Tomorrow's front page: Osborne goes Rambo! #tomorrowspaperstoday https://t.co/vksVEOP2Sa pic.twitter.com/sDIy62rEWU
— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) August 18, 2016
PRESS RELEASE OF THE WEEK: “36 Packaging Value Chain Industry Associations launch joint recommendations for a resource-efficient Circular Economy.” Playbook declined to read further, and placed it in the circular file.
PRESS RELEASE OF THE SUMMER: “Bees must be protected after Brexit.” Indeed. Thanks to MEP Catherine Bearder.
INSIGHT OF THE WEEK: “The impact of withdrawal depends on the future relationship formed with the EU,” from a U.K. House of Commons Brexit impact assessment. We hope the intern who wrote that got a prize.
NUMBER OF THE WEEK: 0.005% — That’s the effective tax rate Margrethe Vestager says Apple paid in Ireland, in 2014. The Commission finally found someone with a lower tax rate than Eurocrats.
OVERHEARD: “Any leaflet that begins with ‘Understanding the EU’ is doomed to fail.”
DAILY AFTER WORK ROOFTOP COCKTAILS AT RESIDENCE PALACE: Come to the ninth floor for drinks in the fading sun, with a distinctly French start time of 4 p.m. The catch: a distinctly Belgian finishing time of 7 p.m., leaving Playbook’s spy at the Residence Palace to observe: “Not sure they’ve grasped their demographic with respect to timings.” Interesting 1993 clipart too!
WHO’S UP
Irish taxpayers: They could have €13 billion to splurge.
Margrethe Vestager: Showed radical policy is still possible.
António Guterres and Miroslav Lajčák: The Portuguese and Slovakian politicians are leading the race to be next UN secretary-general.
WHO’S DOWN
Apple CEO Tim Cook: He’s got €13 billion to find.
Günter Verheugen: The former commissioner was shamed into appearing before the Parliament’s Dieselgate inquiry, on a third attempt.
TTIP: The EU-U.S. trade deal continues to be a European punching bag.