Piotr Serafin flexes muscles on EU budget battle – live updates – POLITICO

Nobody puts Warsaw in the corner.

Donald Tusk’s former right-hand man, Piotr Serafin, will take to the microphone today in an attempt to convince the EU’s political parties that he is the man to lead negotiations on the €1.2 trillion central budget.

When Tusk, now Poland’s prime minister, was president of the European Council, officials worked with Serafin described him as a powerbroker par excellence and a tireless number cruncher. After working in Brussels for more than ten years, he knows how the EU works – and that already gives him a big advantage.

If approved, Serafin will be at the center of budget negotiations for the 2028-2034 period and will be tasked with proposing how the EU wants to spend its money in the coming years. But the task will be particularly difficult in this budget cycle, as the European Commission wants to attach conditions to the benefits, especially since Poland is one of the largest recipients.

We’ll be bringing you all the live action from 2:30 PM CET on November 7.

Background reading:

P.S. If you want to follow more of the action from the hearings, our reporters will bring you step-by-step updates from all 26 interviews with commissioners here.