“Trust no one”: distinguish friends from enemies, With Donald Trump di Mezzohas become an increasingly complicated exercise. And Europe does not want to take risks. The thermometer of trust between Brussels and Washington is now close to zero, to the point of pushing the team of Ursula von der Leyen to treat every overseas mission as if it were directed to Beijing or in hostile territory. From Palazzo Berlaymont the strengthened anti-spying protocol for commissioners and officials departing for the United States was triggered: no more electronic views of personal passports, you travel only with a European Laissez-Passer. But no disposable phone or laptop, at least for now: the commission has denied the rumors that “ghost” spy proof devices were distributed.
Precautions reserved so far for visits to China and Ukraine – where the risk of ending up in Chinese or Russian intelligence radars is far from remote – and not to historical allies considered above all suspicions. The escalation of tensions with the tenant of the White House triggered the alarm to Palazzo Berlaymont, leading the executive to update its vademecum for missions. A revision that, wanted to clarify an EU spokesman, reflects “the most recent changes in the way the Commission communicates, as well as the general increase in threats globally in the field of cybersicacy”.
No instruction – according to official communications – given on the use of “prepaid and unpaid” smartphone or laptops “from 007”. Yet, according to the revelations of the Financial Times, some more protection there would be: personal devices prohibited during the missions, telephones to be turned off at the border and to store in shielded cases when not in use. The first to test the new handbook will be the Valdis Dombrovskis commissioners, Maria Luis Albuquerque and Jozef Sikela, ready to fly to Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, from 21 to 26 April. “We fear that the United States can access our internal systems,” admitted a European official to the City sheet. To echo him, a colleague who came to the dose: “The historic transatlantic alliance is over”. A synthesis of the frost descended between the two banks of the Atlantic despite Brussels’ will to “leave room for negotiations” in order not to aggravate the commercial war: after the face to face Washington with the secretary of American trade, Howard Lutnick, a tweet is expected punctual – without a padlock – of the EU commissioner Maros Sefcovic.