Cristina Lobillo Borrero has landed in the heart of Ursula von der Leyen's inner circle as the new senior adviser for the clean transition in von der Leyen's cabinet, a post that puts her inside the machinery shaping EU energy policy while the bloc scrambles to lower costs for households and industry, strengthen its competitiveness and reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels.
That’s the Brussels version of democracy: a vertical chain of command, a cabinet, a president, and a small circle of officials deciding what “transition” means for everyone else. One official said Lobillo is there to implement “the energetic priorities of the president,” and added that “with how vertical the Commission is, being in the direct line of command of von der Leyen, that makes her the most influential Spanish official in Brussels.”
The Commission’s Vertical Line
People who have worked with Lobillo described her as professional, knowledgeable and friendly. Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho said the president's cabinet is made up of a selection of the most experienced officials in their respective fields and that Lobillo was picked as “one of the most respected and senior energy officials” in the Commission. That’s the language of institutional self-congratulation, polished and airless, while the actual power sits in the cabinet and the command structure around it.
A lawmaker from the European People's Party said von der Leyen brought in Lobillo as a “counterweight” to Teresa Ribera and that the move has also set up a direct line to Spain's center-right at the heart of the Commission. A second MEP said Lobillo “is not there to undermine Ribera or anything of the sort; she acts following Ursula's lead.” The message is plain enough. The Commission doesn’t just coordinate policy. It manages factions, channels influence and keeps the hierarchy intact.
Three Commission officials said Lobillo proved particularly valuable to von der Leyen during the energy crisis and the scramble to ditch Russian gas, when she led a special task force to decouple from Russian fossil fuels. Two officials said she became especially close to von der Leyen's chief of staff Bjoern Seibert during that period, effectively becoming the key official giving them the technical background on energy. The crisis may have been sold as emergency management, but the result was more concentration of authority in the same hands.
Brussels, Madrid, and the Same Old Club
The article said Lobillo has no formal ties with Spain's PP, but her political origins are in working with PP heavyweight Miguel Arias Cañete, first in José María Aznar's government and later as his chief of staff when he became EU energy and climate commissioner. Her connections mean the EU's center-right is eyeing her as a potential key power player if the PP takes charge in Madrid next year, with the EPP lawmaker saying she is potential ministerial material back home.
The first MEP said, “If she has to defend a Spanish position, people know her and trust her at the Commission, the same in Council and Parliament.” That’s not a story about public accountability. It’s a story about networks, access and the same political class moving between national capitals and the Brussels apparatus without ever leaving the room where decisions get made.
The same article also said the EU isn't joining Donald Trump's Board of Peace, but Brussels and the board's top officials keep turning up at each other's events. Mediterranean Commissioner Dubravka Šuica will attend a high-level Board of Peace briefing in New York, and the board's High Representative Nickolay Mladenov will attend an EU delegation event showcasing two European waste and water projects for Gaza. Šuica said, “We need to work together with all actors — internationally, regionally and on the ground — to create the conditions for sustainable recovery, peace and stability. This is just the beginning.” Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and peace envoy, has been invited to the EU event, and some board projects could overlap with the EU's Team Gaza initiatives.
The Rest of the Machine Keeps Turning
Beyond the energy file, the article sketched the wider machinery of power in motion. Norway wants to start lobbying Brussels earlier to better protect its own interests, with Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide saying, “We are making changes that make it possible to start promoting Norwegian positions and interests earlier – that is where the real room for action lies,” and Trade and Industry Minister Cecilie Myrseth saying, “We will now be earlier and more active in the development of European policy, particularly in the area of industrial policy.” Anne Line Kaxrud, deputy head of international affairs at the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise, said the business community had long called for concrete measures to ensure a more proactive administration of the EEA agreement. Oda Helen Sletnes, a senior adviser at the consultancy Kreab and a former Norwegian ambassador, said Norway's ability to influence EU policy remains limited because its many agreements with the EU do not permit participation in the EU's decision-making bodies and that only EU membership can change that.
The article also said the U.S. is investigating Germany's system for pricing new medicines, that Donald Trump has threatened additional tariffs unless European prices go up, and that Germany is the first EU country to come under specific U.S. pressure to raise drug prices. Berlin rejects claims that its drug pricing system is an unfair trade practice. So even medicine pricing gets dragged into the same transatlantic contest over leverage, tariffs and market discipline.
Donald Trump used his UNGA speech to cast himself as a peacemaker, while also saying he was willing to “annihilate” Iran and rejecting the idea of a global body to oversee artificial intelligence, which he called “super intelligence.” Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez, after skipping a UNGA reception with Donald Trump, called Trump's address to the assembly “ideological … not backed and supported by facts and data,” according to a preview clip posted to social media overnight. Canadian PM Mark Carney committed $100 million in assistance for Palestine before meeting U.K. PM Andy Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss a two-state solution.
EU capitals struck a deal to remove billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman from the bloc's Russia sanctions list after a high-stakes diplomatic play by France. Romania's potential next prime minister, European People's Party MEP Siegfried Mureșan, warned that the country's political deadlock risks handing power to the far right. POLITICO announced Brussels Playbook Capitals, a new weekday afternoon briefing, at its inaugural Brussels Playbook Live event.
And because Brussels never stops feeding itself, the EU Quarter has long been known more for office buildings and takeaway salad spots than coffee culture, but that is changing, with businesses looking to cash in on demand for frothy drinks and tiny pastries. A new upmarket specialty coffee place is being constructed on Rue Froissart across from Bouche, with high-end Marzocco coffee machines already installed, and the spot joins Camara Nova on Rue d'Arlon, Coffee Mio on Rue Froissart and Joe & The Juice, which launched six months ago on the same street. The weather in Brussels was sunny with a gentle breeze and a high of 20C.
The article listed birthdays including MEP Karin Karlsbro; former MEPs Andrew England Kerr, Marie-Christine Vergiat and Ricardo Cortés; Cillian Lohan from the European Economic and Social Committee; Baresque's Santa Silapētere; former U.S. Ambassador to the EU Kristen Silverberg; former U.K. Ambassador to the U.S. Karen Pierce; and Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women. Even the social calendar gets its place in the machine.