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Parliament takes a break. The plotting begins.

Politico EU Thursday 16 July 2026, 04:05 UTC By Zoya Sheftalovich, Ian Wishart, Dionisios Sturis, Saga Ringmar 46 min read
Key Points

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music The European Parliament’s 719 lawmakers are about to head off on their six-week summer break. But that doesn’t mean an end to the political headaches.   That’s because as soon as they return on Aug. 31, lawmakers will dive straight back into backroom negotiations ahead of Parliament’s big midterm reshuffle. Zoya Sheftalovich and Ian Wishart discuss the scheming already happening behind the scenes.

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The European Parliament’s 719 lawmakers are about to head off on their six-week summer break. But that doesn’t mean an end to the political headaches.  

That’s because as soon as they return on Aug. 31, lawmakers will dive straight back into backroom negotiations ahead of Parliament’s big midterm reshuffle. Zoya Sheftalovich and Ian Wishart discuss the scheming already happening behind the scenes.

Next: Europe wants to restrict children’s use of social media — much like Australia. But does the implementation of Canberra’s ban serve as a warning or a trailblazer? Zoya speaks with the Aussie eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, to learn more.

And finally, it seems the EU’s new digital border system can’t tell identical twins apart. We dig deeper.

… And we talk about monkeys again. Do you have a monkey story? Send us a message or voice note to our WhatsApp Send us a message or voice note to our WhatsApp here or at +32 491 05 06 29.

Parliament (ORG) Spotify Apple Music (ORG) The European Parliament (ORG) Zoya Sheftalovich (PERSON) Ian Wishart (PERSON) Europe (LOCATION) Australia (LOCATION) Canberra (ORG) Zoya (PERSON) EU (ORG)
Originally published by Politico EU Read original →

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