BRUSSELS ― Martin Selmayr, one of the EU’s most effective and feared political operators of recent times, has held talks over a job that would see him return to Brussels ― triggering criticism and dread among diplomats.
Selmayr met the team of the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas this month for previously unreported talks, two officials with knowledge of the situation said. He is now in pole position for a newly created senior position inside her European External Action Service, the bloc’s foreign policy wing.
Currently serving as the EU’s ambassador to the Vatican, Selmayr is said to be considering taking the job. He is weighing the offer against his current diplomatic post in Rome as well as personal considerations, according to a person familiar with his thinking.
But in a bid to scupper the move, officials working for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have closed ranks and hatched a plan to offer him an alternative role ― special envoy for religious freedom ― with the idea of keeping him out of the political fray and away from Brussels. The plan was floated at a high-level Commission meeting on Tuesday, three officials said.
The German conservative has not always had an easy relationship with the bloc’s executive, including von der Leyen and her team, diplomats and officials said. There are also tensions between von der Leyen and Kallas, they said. Asked by POLITICO whether his return would further strain relations between the Commission and the EEAS, and with national governments, Kallas said only that “we need a strong person” in the job to help ensure “Europe is a geopolitical power.”
Selmayr met Kallas’ head of Cabinet, Vivian Loonela, in the lead-up to the posting of the job vacancy earlier this month, with two of the diplomats and officials expressing concern that the role had been created specifically with him in mind.
“Ms. Loonela regularly meets with EU ambassadors, including a recent meeting with Martin Selmayr in Brussels,” a spokesperson for Kallas confirmed, declining to comment on whether they had discussed the role directly.
‘Count of Monte Cristo’
The veteran German civil servant served as chief of staff to former Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker from 2014, and briefly as the institution’s secretary-general in 2019, before being cast aside when von der Leyen became president.
The new role would be influential and put him in charge of relations between the diplomatic corps, European Parliament and national capitals, according to a job specification.
“He will be like the Count of Monte Cristo, coming back to have his revenge against everyone here,” said one diplomat, granted anonymity to speak to POLITICO, adding that Selmayr’s hard-nosed tactics and his deep institutional network would make him invaluable to Kallas and a fearsome rival for others.
Selmayr, who has declined to comment publicly so far, would nominally answer to EEAS Secretary-General Belen Carbonell, but the role would give him power to represent the department at meetings with governments, effectively replacing her on some of the most important working groups and setting the stage for future power struggles.
Bringing him in over the heads of career diplomats could prove unpopular inside the EEAS, the officials said.
“Selmayr has been at the Vatican for the past two years — that’s the sum total of his diplomatic record,” said one of the officials. “To turn around and say to the enormously experienced people in the diplomatic service that they want to bring in someone with a strong record, everyone will wonder, well, don’t we have that already?”
Strengthening ties
During his time as Juncker’s chief of staff, Selmayr riled the hierarchy with his uncompromising grip on power and his at-times fractious relations across Brussels, earning a reputation as the “Monster of the Berlaymont.”
According to another person familiar with the matter, the redesign of the deputy secretary-general position reflects Kallas’ focus on strengthening ties with member countries, including at the regular Coreper meetings of ambassadors held several times a week.
But another diplomat said there is an awareness the EEAS will have to chart its own course and get tougher to achieve its goals. “Member states don’t love Selmayr. But who do they love? Only puppets who listen to them.”
His appointment as secretary-general in 2018 drew opposition from the Parliament for a lack of transparency in the application process and a call “to give other possible candidates within the European public administration the possibility to apply.”
Selmayr’s eventual departure in 2019 following von der Leyen’s takeover was seen as a way to rebrand the executive arm of the EU and reduce the level of German dominance in the corridors of power.
Gabriel Gavin and Nicholas Vinocur reported from Luxembourg. Hans von der Burchard reported from Berlin. Jacopo Barigazzi reported from Brussels. Gerardo Fortuna contributed to this report.
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