THE POLITICO BREXITOMETER: The steady drumbeat of studies showing impending economic doom for Britain if the U.K. leaves the EU continued this week. The question is whether voters will believe them, or get tired of hearing about it … [brexitometer26] FEAR OF OPEN SPACES: More doomsday scenarios about open office environments are being by circulated by staff trade unions, who now worry the idea to bring Eurocrats out from behind closed doors is spreading to the European Commission. The European Public Service Union sent an email to its members Friday with a rather alarmist subject line: “Open spaces are slowly but surely taking over our institution, like gangrene.” Since Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva, who is in charge of human resources, seems to be set on pushing these “collaborative spaces” perhaps it’s time to phone the shrinks to help deal with what is clearly an epidemic of office agoraphobia — an “extreme or irrational fear of open or public places.” [LONDON - NOVEMBER 03: Production staff on the weekly fashion magazine, Grazia edit the magazine in a temporary office inside the Westfield shopping centre on November 3, 2008 in London. For one week Grazia magazine is being produced in the Westfield shopping centre and are offering shoppers free make-overs, fashion consultations and advice on pursuing a modeling career. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)] Oli Scarff/Getty Images HEMP IS HIGH: The folks at the European Industrial Hemp Association seem to have been, er, confused, about which language they were operating in when they sent around a press release this week citing “continuous growth in die European hemp industry.” Clearly muddling English with German, the association presented “the newest data on hemp cultivation, processing and applications for fibers, shivs, seeds and flowers. From the year 2011 to 2015 the cultivation area in the European Union more than tripled to 25,000 ha.” We’re pretty sure ha means hectares, though it could also just be a giggle. MUM’S THE WORD: We hear that U.K. civil servants have been scratching their heads over what is acceptable to tweet during their imposed “purdah” ahead of the British referendum on EU membership. Even the slightest possibility of a misfire has been causing heart palpitations among the Queen’s subjects as they struggle to keep their Brexit leanings secret. WHERE ARE THE WOMEN? Playbook gagged for a few seconds when we saw European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica’s tweeted photo of a crop of men onstage at the “Women Deliver” global development conference in Denmark. We hear the event was packed with female panels for a couple of days, so this was basically a twist: the only panel with all men. [PlaybookScreenshot42x37] SPAM OF THE WEEK: It is perhaps best not to ask too many questions about the European Parliament staffer who sent around an email to everyone in the Square de Meeûs building asking for help finding two items he had misplaced: a leather cowboy hat and a kimono … MYSTERY OF THE WEEK: The Guardian ran an insider’s account of life as a Eurocrat this week, from a person claiming to be a staff member at the European Parliament, working with the IT team. Do you know more? Are you the author? We’d love to hear from you. SAM CAM AUSTERITY PLAN: Is it a plan to show how in touch he is with the ordinary voter? Is David Cameron sick of his wife Samantha taking the good car? We’ll never know. But in what appears to be the automotive version of a political wife or princess shopping at Primark, David Cameron has bought his wife a used Nissan Micra for £1,495, according to the Independent. STRIKING BRUSSELS STYLE: Ear-piercing firecrackers were set off in the middle of a packed main hall at Brussels North train station around 11 a.m. Tuesday as around 60,000 people protested against planned government cuts. Police Chief Commissioner Pierre Vandersmissen received a head injury, one of two officers injured, during a disturbance near Brussels Midi railway station. Twenty protesters were also injured. A 20-year-old man was arrested in connection with the injury to Vandersmissen. The protests were over plans to abolish the 38-hour working week and a law that lets politicians retire at 55. BROADENING THE CIRCLE: MEP Mairead McGuinness, one of the European Parliament’s vice presidents, used a 7,000-strong youth event in Strasbourg over the weekend to broaden the circle of young people the EU consults on its funding and projects. McGuinness tells Playbook she was so impressed by Yentyl Williams, the president of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Young Professionals Network, that she invited Williams to speak to the Parliament’s development committee. McGuinness also asked Williams to act as an “ambassador for diversity” in policy discussions around how the EU’s legal agreement with countries from Africa, Caribbean and Pacific regions (the Cotonou Agreement) is implemented. BEST DRESSED IN THE BUBBLE? Ask about runways in Brussels, and people are more likely to think you’re talking about transport policy than fashion. But Playbook has been noticing some trendy action recently. Given the gender bias of the fashion industry, we also thought it would be fun to highlight some of the bubble’s more well-dressed men. Some male nominees, MEP Fredrick Federley (pink trousers) and Robert Torvelainen of Finland’s Kokoomus party, to kick-start your new appreciation of political couture … [PlaybookFashionB42x63] [PlaybookFashionA42x63] WHO’S UP ALEXANDER VAN DER BELLEN: The unlikely new Green president of Austria squeaked into the runoff vote and proved that pro-EU forces can mobilize to defeat Euroskeptic populists when the heat is on. ALEXIS TSIPRAS: The Greek prime minister is now on the path to debt relief, after an early morning deal by eurozone finance ministers on Wednesday. KATI PIRI: The MEP was proved right in her concerns that North Koreans are being used as forced labor on EU territory. An investigation by VICE found they are, and that EU subsidies are involved. WHO’S DOWN NORBERT HOFER: The winner of the first-round vote to be Austrian president came so close, but failed to win in what is likely to be the best chance for some time for a populist to be a head of state. FRANS TIMMERMANS: With Ahmet Davutoğlu gone and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan raising the rhetoric to new levels, the EU-Turkey refugee deal that Timmermans has been intimately involved in is more fragile than ever. MARINE LE PEN: Her kindred spirit Hofer lost in Austria, her rival and niece Marion Maréchal-Le Pen is going rogue, and despite the grave unpopularity of the sitting President Francois Hollande she is sliding in the polls.
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