How António Costa plans to shake up EU summits and work with von der Leyen

Good morning. Incoming European Council president António Costa has Lunch with the FT this week, where we talk about Donald Trump, Viktor Orbán, and why he once raced a donkey against a Ferrari.

Here, he tells me more about how he wants to change the way EU leaders’ summits are run, and work in tandem with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. And below, our Rome bureau reports on Russian spies in Italy.

Have a brilliant weekend.

Regime change

António Costa wants better relations with the European Commission and streamlined EU summits, the incoming council president said as he laid out the vision for his mandate.

Context: former Portuguese prime minister Costa takes over on December 1 from Belgium’s Charles Michel as the president of the EU’s top decision-making body, speaking for its 27 leaders and chairing the summits that steer the bloc’s strategic direction.

Michel and commission president Ursula von der Leyen, the EU’s chief executive, had a dysfunctional relationship, with clashes over policy, tasks and diplomatic hierarchy that irked EU capitals and undermined the bloc’s clout.

“We have an institutional framework that sometimes creates some problems. But the most important thing is the dynamics of the individuals and the commitment and trust in their relations,” Costa told the FT over prosecco and pasta in Brussels.

“This time, we have a great start point because [von der Leyen and I] have a very, very good personal and political relationship. So we just need to work on this to build up our working relationship,” he said, adding that they were already discussing how to divide responsibilities and avoid conflicts.

“We’re already working together. Our teams are working together. We are organising our working methods . . . in order to use the different leverages,” he said, adding that von der Leyen was “clearly” also keen to fix the relationship.

Costa, who will chair his first summit on December 19, spent the past few months meeting the EU’s leaders to talk about how to make their discussions better. The feedback was blunt.

“It’s unanimous, this vision: nobody wants to spend time on drafting,” Costa said. It is not uncommon for EU summits to stretch late into the night as leaders fight over the wording of joint conclusions, often several pages long.

“What we want is to have shorter [written] conclusions because we don’t need every council to discuss once again all the problems of the world. We need to focus each council on a political message,” Costa said.

He also wants to “fill the gap between the European citizens and the EU institutions”.

“We cannot speak only about the problems of the world, but also about the problems of the citizens . . . and link our policymaking process to citizens,” Costa said.

Chart du jour: Bumpy ride

As Europe races to end the sale of petrol cars by 2035, the road to mass-adoption of electric vehicles remains riddled with obstacles.

City mappers

An elite police unit has been investigating two Italian men suspected of gathering sensitive data for Russian intelligence services in exchange for cryptocurrency payments, write Amy Kazmin and Giuliana Ricozzi.

Context: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is a staunch supporter of Ukraine. But there remain strong ties between politicians, businesses and parts of Italian society with Russia, and the country is seen as susceptible to Moscow’s influence operations.

In the case that became public this week, the two suspects were allegedly in contact with their Russian handlers since early 2023. The Carabinieri, one of Italy’s police forces, said evidence indicated the men, who have not been identified, were asked to map “the system of video surveillance of Milan and Rome, with a particular focus on grey zones, the areas of a city not covered by video cameras”.

To fulfil that mission, the suspects approached Milan taxi drivers and offered them free dashboard cameras for their vehicles, without drivers being aware that the data would be sent to Russian intelligence, the Carabinieri said in a statement.

They were also asked to provide “photos of military installations” and procure the contacts of “technical experts in the field of drones and electronic security”, according to the Carabinieri.

Authorities offered no hint of how much relevant information, if any, may have been shared with Moscow.

While the two men have not yet been detained, the Carabinieri said details of the case were being shared “in the public interest”. Milan prosecutors are now expected to ask for the suspects to be charged with corruption by foreigners, subversion and terrorism.

In a separate case, Italy’s top court this week confirmed the 29-year prison term for convicted spy Walter Biot, the Italian naval officer arrested in 2021 while attempting to deliver classified documents on a USB stick to his Russian handler.

What to watch today

1. Interior ministers from Austria, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary meet in Budapest to discuss Schengen enlargement.

2. The prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania meet in Vilnius.

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