Far-right ex-general sets his terms for Meloni

GOOD AFTERNOON. This is Jamie Dettmer with you today.  

MORE THAN A FUEL STOP: U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Dublin tonight on their way back from Moscow to discuss peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. Instead of the government guesthouse in Phoenix Park — the usual venue for this kind of high-level event — their meeting is likely to take place at the Baldonnel Aerodrome. 

Good news? Earlier today, U.S. officials asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his “blessing” to allow European representatives to join future peace talks. Will Kushner and Witkoff have good news? “I don’t know, I have no insider information,” said French President Emmanuel Macron in Dublin this morning, warning the U.S. was mediating but not supporting Ukraine anymore. 

“Without Europeans there is no support for Ukraine, let’s be honest,” he said.

**A message from EHHA: In Schleiden, Leon’s gardening business grew alongside the short-term rentals he looks after. His story shows how these stays connect with local work and livelihoods. Decisions should reflect these realities. Meet Leon and his mother Natalja in More than a stay.**

GENERAL ELECTION: Roberto Vannacci, a former special forces general, may be slipping in the polls, but he insists PM Giorgia Meloni is still going to need lawmakers from his far-right nationalist National Future party to keep her grip on power after next year’s election. In an interview with Brussels Playbook Capitals, he laid out his terms for teaming up with her.   

No to Ukraine, green deal and migrants: Sitting below a photo of himself skydiving, Vannacci rattled off his three conditions — no more support for Ukraine, an end to “our support for the EU’s green deal” and deporting migrants who have not assimilated because “we need to send them back.” 

Isn’t that a lot of people to deport? Yes. He’s says Italy will need to repatriate about 4% of its population — i.e. 2.4 million people.  

Behind the scenes: The 58-year-old noted he wouldn’t seek a cabinet job himself. “I don’t want any position in government. I want to continue to be the leader of my party, and you can’t do both,” he said. 

Trouble-maker-in-chief: In Vannacci’s case, that would certainly enable him to continue the trouble-maker role he clearly relishes. He describes himself as a casinista, which means hell-raiser and rabble-rouser. That’s something I have “always been. That’s why I had a career in special forces and not the regular forces.”  

They all messed up: The former general laughs off the claim that he’s a Russian Trojan horse. He said neither Europe nor U.S. President Donald Trump should have got involved in wars they couldn’t win. Asked whether Putin hadn’t made exactly that mistake too, Vannacci responded: “Yes.” But he thought Putin didn’t intend to get bogged down in a Ukraine invasion. “He was looking for regime change. From a tactical point of view, he was wrong,” he said.  

President Vance: Trump lost the midterms for two reasons, Vannacci argued. “He campaigned on America First and that he would bring peace everywhere — and he didn’t. Instead of bringing peace, he attacked Iran, starting a lost war and collapsing the U.S. economy. He wasn’t able to maintain the promise of America First.” Who might be able to after Trump? Vice President JD Vance, he said. 

SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT: Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez will officially launch his campaign for the Nov. 29 election tonight at a highly symbolic rally in Seville, the capital of Spain’s southern Andalusia region. Regional leader and former deputy PM María Jesús Montero calls Andalusia the Socialist Party’s “heart and motor,” but winning a large share of the 60 seats it is allocated in the 350-seat national parliament looks increasingly unlikely. 

Don’t call it a comeback: The Socialists governed Andalusia for 36 years but have been out of power regionally since 2018. The latest projections put the center-right People’s Party ahead in all eight Andalusian provinces — including Seville, where Sánchez’s party has never previously lost in a general election. 

Thanks for the memories: University of Granada political scientist Ángel Cazorla attributed voter disenchantment to socioeconomic shifts. Andalusians remained loyal to the Socialists for decades out of gratitude for the progress it oversaw in the 1980s and 1990s, when EU structural funds spurred economic development with projects like the Madrid-Seville high-speed railway. But as living standards rose, so did frustration over persistent problems like unemployment and strained public services, ultimately prompting the party’s ouster.  

Tragic metaphor: Cazorla noted this year’s two railway disasters took place on that iconic Madrid-Seville line, long seen as a symbol of Socialist-era improvements. “The deadly accidents are in a lot of ways representative of a social-democratic project that gradually ran out of steam, and that successive governments have failed to look after what had been achieved not only with infrastructure but public goods and overall quality of life.” 

The generational gap: Tonight’s rally will feature Socialist stalwarts but few fresh faces to appeal to younger voters. Cazorla said the generation that had grown up in an already-transformed Andalusia felt little identification with the Socialists or its regional leadership. “A young left-wing voter is paying attention to a different message — one this old guard is incapable of projecting.”

AT THE TABLE: Estonia has called for European Council President António Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to represent Europe in Russia-Ukraine negotiations. “Both are clearly accountable to EU countries,” Estonian PM Kristen Michal told POLITICO. The matter is set to come up at an informal summit in Dublin tomorrow at Giorgia Meloni’s behest. 

OPEN INVITATION: Representatives of three French presidential candidates — former PM Gabriel Attal, conservative Bruno Retailleau and right-libertarian David Lisnard — announced they will meet next Tuesday to discuss a primary to narrow the center-right field. While Édouard Philippe is refusing to join, pressing rivals to withdraw in his favor instead, there will be “a seat” for his team if they change their mind, Attal said today. 

GREEN DEAL LIVES: The EU’s top court rejected all seven of Poland’s challenges to major Green Deal laws Thursday, including the 2035 zero-emission car target and carbon pricing for heating and transport. The lawsuits were launched under the previous nationalist Law and Justice government but were kept alive under pro-EU PM Donald Tusk. 

CHRISTMAS CONDITIONS: President Karol Nawrocki’s office today responded to Tusk’s invitation for a pre-Christmas meeting with two demands: withdraw police from the Constitutional Tribunal and allow sidelined judges back inside. Presidential Spokesperson Rafał Leśkiewicz dismissed the PM’s invitation as an insincere political gesture but said Nawrocki was willing to meet if the conditions were met. 

BAN IT: Brussels, Munich, Dublin and Genoa are among the major city governments across Europe calling on the EU to ban the sale of filters in cigarettes. The No (Plastic) Filter campaign argues the plastic-based stubs have no health benefits and are the single biggest cause of urban litter.

ANOTHER BOMBSHELL: The Eurostar appears to be the latest victim of a hoax bomb threat, after an alert at Calais-Fréthun station in northern France disrupted some London–Paris services Thursday. French authorities later said checks were complete and train traffic was resuming. Previous bomb threats targeted European flights and schools. 

WE DON’T WANT NO EDUCATION: Following hoax threats to schools across Italy, the government announced Thursday that email threats will no longer trigger school evacuations. The announcement follows Meloni’s statement that she “will not permit an anonymous email to dictate the school calendar of our children.” 

COALITION CRISIS: The Netherlands’ minority coalition is under strain after two of its three members struck a deal with opposition parties, securing support for a contentious tax plan to shift about €1 billion in tax from wealth to income. If they vote together on today’s ballot, Dilan Yeşilgöz — leader of the left-out People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy — said “we will also have to see how this cooperation can continue.” 

BALTIC PREP: Tallinn will roll out a new doomsday resilience strategy, setting up all critical government systems so they can be run from abroad in case the government loses control of its territory. The system would kick in “either when data centers are destroyed or there’s boots on the ground and we cannot operate,” said Tõnu Grünberg, former deputy secretary general for digital infrastructure and cybersecurity. 

PROBLEMS PERSIST: Limitations affecting Starshield — the military version of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system — appear to be back in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday. “Unfortunately, our units have been recording significant disruptions to Starshield’s operations over the territory of Ukraine for several days now — along the entire front line and in the temporarily occupied territories,” he said. 

NUCLEAR SPEED-UP: The Polish government approved a draft law to cut red tape and speed up construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant. The Baltic coast project is expected to start generating electricity in 2036, as Warsaw seeks to reduce its reliance on coal. 

EXPECT: Other than the announced disruptions to tram line 51 — ongoing until Nov. 25 — there will be no planned transit delays, says STIB. 

With the Socialist campaign kickoff in Seville, today’s recommendations are all about Andalusia.  READ THIS: Fernando Mansilla’s “Canijo” for a look into the seedy drug culture that defined Seville prior to its 1992 renaissance. 

WATCH THIS: Head to your preferred streamer for Pablo Berger’s black-and-white retelling of “Blancanieves,” set in 1920’s Andalusia. 

LEFT IN THE LURCH? HEAD TO THIS: Bozar will be hosting a conversation with renowned author Zadie Smith on “literature, art and the imagination” at 8 p.m. Last tickets here. 

IMO: What my esteemed colleague Jan Cienski fails to understand is that a chiringuito in Marbella is not representative of Spanish cuisine as a whole. Whether it’s succulent cochinillo from Segovia, Basque pintxos or Mallorcan ensaïmades, I’d argue Spain produces some of the best food. Sure, there are a lot of potatoes, but since when was that a bad thing?  — Izzy Vivian, news editor 

TALK TO PLAYBOOK: Disagree? Email us at [email protected] to share your Brussels takes.

LA CAPITAL DEL MUNDO: One of the high points of the Socialist Party’s 36-year rule in Andalusia was the 1992 World’s Fair in Seville. The expo celebrated innovation, symbolized by the high-speed railway built to bring visitors from Madrid to the fairgrounds, with 108 participating countries building astounding pavilions. The Hungarians erected a wooden church, the British built a waterfall and the Indians constructed a peacock’s fan-tail. Japan erected the world’s largest wooden building constructed without nails, and controversially, Chile towed a 60-metric ton Antarctic iceberg, displaying it in a refrigerated showroom in the middle of a heat wave.

 Playbook is brought to you by POLITICO’s Capitals team: Leyla Aksu, James Angelos, Joshua Berlinger, Bartosz Brzeziński, Clea Caulcutt, Laurens Cerulus, Stephan Faris, Victor Goury-Laffont, Aitor Hernández-Morales, Giorgio Leali, Veronika Melkozerova, Nette Nöstlinger, Christian Oliver, Shawn Pogatchnik, Sonja Rijnen, Hannah Roberts, Tim Ross, Marion Solletty, Nektaria Stamouli, Jakob Weizman, Katie Westwood, Daria Zakharova and producer Marie Thirion. 

**A message from EHHA: Every stay has a local story. A family finds somewhere to stay near their child’s rehabilitation centre. A gardener builds a business around the short-term rentals he looks after. A guest finds their feet in a new city while looking for a permanent home. A visitor discovers local products through someone who knows the neighbourhood. A retired host’s spare room helps her stay in her own home. These stories from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland reveal the work, livelihoods and local connections behind Europe’s short-term rentals (STRs). In 2023, STR activity supported an estimated €149 billion in EU GDP and 2.1 million jobs, supporting many low-income households. Decisions regarding STRs should be grounded in solid local data and a clear understanding of what those rules would mean for housing, livelihoods and communities. Meet the people behind More than a stay.**

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