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The man behind the EU’s Kremlin outreach

Politico EU Monday 06 July 2026, 04:05 UTC By Zoya Sheftalovich, Nicholas Vinocur, Saga Ringmar 46 min read
Key Points

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music On today’s episode, we take a closer look at the busy life of António Costa’s right-hand man, Pedro Lourtie. The European Council President’s head of cabinet was recently thrust into the limelight for opening backchannels with Moscow on his boss’s behalf.

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On today’s episode, we take a closer look at the busy life of António Costa’s right-hand man, Pedro Lourtie.

The European Council President’s head of cabinet was recently thrust into the limelight for opening backchannels with Moscow on his boss’s behalf. Zoya Sheftalovich and Nick Vinocur dig deeper into who this man is and how he does his job.

Also on the show: European Parliament President Roberta Metsola is asking lawmakers to vote again on a bill to fight child sexual abuse material — even though it was rejected by MEPs in March. To do this, she’s relying on a rarely used EU procedure.

Finally: The allegations that a Hungarian spy ring was operating out of the country’s embassy in Brussels was big news in town last year. We’ve gotten our hands on a document from the investigation.

Question? Comment? Send it along as a message or voice note to our WhatsApp here or at +32 491 05 06 29.

EU (ORG) Kremlin (ORG) Spotify Apple Music (ORG) António Costa’s (PERSON) The European Council (ORG) Zoya Sheftalovich (PERSON) Nick Vinocur (PERSON) Roberta Metsola (PERSON) that a Hungarian (ORG)
Originally published by Politico EU Read original →

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