02x05 - A Piece of the Action

[bunniefuu]

Oh, it says "pull", not "push".

PARLIAMENT

There's no one here?

It's not very big.

No.

-What?
-Don't touch that.

This?

-Samy!
-Sorry.

In a few hours,

a law governing 500 million Europeans
will be written here.

What is decided in this room

over the course
of extended negotiations

will have an impact
on the whole continent

and by extension,
the rest of the world.

The future of the marine world will
be decided within these four walls.

Oh, yeah.

The trilogue negotiations
are extremely technical.

They require a perfect mastery
of the text and the jurisprudence.

The European government represented
this semester by the Dutch,

will send its best diplomats,

their best experts,

to fight over every comma
of the text.

The Commission, for its part,

will call on its most seasoned
civil servants,

the European administrative elite.

Put that bottle down right now.

Experts who are used to
this exercise,

for whom nothing, absolutely nothing,

is to be left to chance.

And as for the Parliament, as for us,

we'll handle it as we always do.

I'm sorry! Eamon!

Wait. No, no, no, Eamon!

Damn it.

You are going to help us, aren't you?

In a trilogue,
Parliamentary administrators

are only present to make sure
that things proceed normally.

-Of course.
-The negotiation

rests entirely on the shoulders
of the MPs.

-Eamon.
-Carmen.

Carmen Saro,

Directorate General
of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

I'm responsible for the Blue Deal
at the European Commission.

Hello. Samy. Nice to meet you.

To return to our conversation,
I agree with you, Samy.

Yeah?

Remember how, 11 years ago,

the negotiations over statistics
related to fisheries broke down

because the Commission failed
to consult them early enough

in the process.

You know, Eva,
I'm really quite comfortable

with the position
of the member states.

As usual, we did what we had to do.

My concern is

Parliament's unreasonable insistence

over the issue
of the nomination of the president

of the European
Maritime Safety Agency.

Parliament has no legal basis
for its behavior.

The Commission

knows how to be quite creative
when it comes to legal issues.

It would be a pity if the Blue Deal
were to fall apart over

a silly institutional quarrel.

Good day, gentlemen. See you tonight.

Goodbye.

The lady from the Commission
seems nice.

Have you known her long?

You know, Samy,

a negotiator is only as strong
as his mandate.

Parliament only wins big battles
when it's united.

Yeah, yeah, yeah,
no worries about that.

Everyone's in agreement.

It's time to circle the wagons.

Representatives from interest groups
are on the lookout.

What do you mean?

You know that lobbyist's visits

are recorded in the parliamentary
transparency registry?

Yeah, yeah. Yes.

Visits from lobbyists,
parliamentary transparency registry.

Yeah.

Say that over two or three times.

Eventually, you'll hear the sound
of the other shoe dropping.

Oh, sh*t.

OK.

Yes?

Torsten!

Gesine.

It's nice of you to come see me!

Join us!

Thank you.

Hello.

It was actually Mr. Samy who worked

to ban finning in your region.

No.

I'm just an assistant,
so I was just following orders.

Here I am!

Thank you for waiting.

Gentlemen,

you're so big. Nice to meet you.

Did you row here?

-No.
-No?

Nice to meet you.

Watch and learn, shrimp.

Touch this! No?

OK, let's get down to business.

Wait. While you're here,

could you give me a hand?

Yes.

-OK.
-Yeah?

How lovely. I have some boxes
that are way too heavy for me.

Could you take them down
from the closet?

-These ones?
-Yeah.

Thank you. Thanks so much.
That's lovely.

Could you make some coffee?

I don't speak French, sorry.

You can put them there,
on the ground.

Oh, no. The batteries are in the way.

They were better up there,
actually...

Thanks again.

Thank you very much.

That was very instructive.

-Very instructive.
-Goodbye.

Thank you.

Thanks a lot. Goodbye.
Have a nice day.

By, Guido. Bye.

Bye-bye.

Yes!

We kicked their butts.

Who do we have left?

Who do we have left?

An environmental NGO.

-OK.
-Yeah.

I think we're going to have to
deal with them.

Hello.

The cruise industry emits
huge amounts of carbon,

doesn't pay taxes,

employs Filipinos,

and...

Venice!

They're destroying

Venice.

The manufacture of cruise ships

represents 4,500 jobs

and twice as many indirect jobs

in your region.

The Titanic.

It was a catastrophe.

That happened a long time ago.

Never forgive, never forget.

Jack Dawson.

A fictional character.

Not to me.

For me, he lives...

here.

I'm not following.
Does he work with you?

How to choose between
two handsome young men.

We're disappointed with the 12%.

The truth is that there are
no rules now.

Look at the other proposals.

Twelve percent is unheard of.

-Yeah, but...
-Twelve percent is a new notch.

It will be a new standard,

a ceiling for future negotiations.

If you don't support us,
what message will that send?

That whatever we do,
NGOs are never satisfied.

So, why not ignore them?
You'll be silenced.

Do you have something to say, miss?

In the plenary session last week,

you voted to recognize
the "climate emergency".

Yes.

But when it comes to
confronting industry,

everyone disappears.

And 12% does not accurately reflect
the current ecological crisis.

Anything above 8% is a failure.

A failure. OK.

No, I understand.
Let's go with 8%, then.

I can see that. We need to do more.

Eight percent is the minimum.

Will the Germans accept 8%?

We'll have to talk to the Germans.

-That seems...
-We'll do it without them.

They lack ambition.

We can't let the Germans
dictate everything.

It'll never get through the trilogue
because we won't have a coalition,

but we'll have sent a message.

If we're going to be principled,

we might as well propose 6%, no?

Well, we talked about that,
but we thought that...

And 4%? Did you discuss that too?

You know what? Let's go for 0%.

And then we'll just start catching
them one by one with poles?

It is a climate emergency, right?

You know that discarding
non-targeted species

is a disaster for biodiversity.

And the fishing industry
is perfectly capable of...

You know... What is it again? Lydia?

-Lydia.
-Lydia,

I met a fisherman.

I always try to talk to
the people on the ground.

He lives in Lorient.

He just invested in a new boat,

and he explained to me that
at less than 12%,

he'll go out of business.

He has a family, debts.

Things are not that simple, miss.

Twelve percent is much too...

Yeah, but I'm not interested in
losing this battle with honors, OK?

I'm here to make a difference.

I'm not here to show off
my principles

and my little dolphin tattoo.

So,

you should issue a statement
of support for the compromise

this afternoon before the trilogue

because we're going to need
all the support we can get

to confront the Dutch.

That's fine.
We'll do that, Madame Deputy.

I really don't see what this
has to do with cruises.

Do they really have gyms?

They have many.
They even have mini-golf.

My back is k*lling me.

Thanks again.
This was very instructive.

You see how I handled
that little punk?

Yeah, yeah. Nicely done.

"Anything above 8% is a failure."

No, doing the accent, Valentine,
that's a little...

NEW MESSAGES

Huh? Oh, enough with
the political correctness.

I'm going to check how
the negotiations are going.

OK.

Things are not that simple, miss.

HORACE THE SAILOR

I don't need your help.

I don't need you at all.

You know what you are? A coward.

Lydia, Lydia.

Unbelievable.

Is she going to pull a coat rack
out of her purse, or what?

She looks like Mary Poppins.

COMMISSION

Are the diplomats
from the Council coming?

The diplomats have
their own schedules.

They like to remind us
that without them,

nothing gets done in Europe.

-Yes.
-Yes.

COUNCIL

No one can know.

No.

And I don't want...

to ever see each other again.

I understand.

I'm going back to Austria.

Maybe work at a ski resort.

A ski resort.

Good luck.

Thank you.

...with the Blue Deal,

we are committing the continent

to the protection of living things.

Why's she giving a speech?

Is this being filmed?

She's a deputy. We can't stop them.

We're here

to negotiate a reasonable agreement
with your institutions.

We are here as a constructive

yet determined participant.

We will not let national egos

cause the destruction
of our ecosystems.

With that little clarification,

we're ready to hear your proposals.

PARLIAMENT