02x06 - Reptilians

[bunniefuu]

PARLIAMENT

Samy, where are we with the coffee?

Do you know why horses
let themselves be ridden?

Because its eyeballs are so big

that they distort its vision,
making men seem bigger.

That's why the horse
lets itself be mounted.

It's the same thing
with the Council and Parliament.

Each institution thinks it is weaker
than it is in the eyes of the other.

OK, I didn't understand
why you were talking about horses.

It was weird, but...

I'll put it here.

In any negotiation, Parliament
has things the Council wants

and the Council has things
Parliament wants.

We have to know
what the opponent is willing to give

and what we are ready to give up.

We're not giving anything up.

The sugar is here if you want it.

The trick is not to reveal
to the other side

the things they don't know
we care about.

Like the appointment
of agency directors.

Do we really care about
the appointments?

Samy.

Giving power to Parliament

to appoint agency directors

would shift the center of gravity
of the technocracy.

We would be giving power back
to elected representatives,

to the people. We are
democratizing Europe.

-OK. OK.
-Yes.

We could drop
the accounting standards.

We don't understand it.

If we get rid of everything
you don't understand...

I'll let you take that.

Oh, no. Samy's going to take it
in his office.

OK, so...

The ban on electric fishing, finning,

fishing quotas...

Hello?

Hello?

Director of Fisheries, Carmen Sarou.

Hello. Yes, Mrs. Cantel
isn't available.

Can I take a message?

No, the Director
wants to speak to you.

To you?

To you, Mr. Kantor. OK?

Yes, you're here... I'm here.

No one calls me
by my last name here, so...

The Director for Maritime Policy
and the Blue Economy

has heard a lot about your work

and would like to meet with you
to discuss it.

Oh. OK. I'll check my schedule.

OK, I'm free now.

I haven't proposed a time yet.

That's true. I'm listening.

Hard to believe, huh?

What exactly do you expect to get
with this picture?

No, it was... It was a joke.

To get the Dutch ambassador to bend,

you need to undermine his base.

A negotiator is only as strong
as his mandate.

Poland is a pivotal country

that can swing the majority.
on the Council.

What's Poland got to do with this?

Nothing.

The Poles have almost
no fishing fleet.

It wouldn't take much to get them
to change their position.

You just have to put
a little pressure on them.

But I don't have anything
on the Poles.

You'd have to find something
they want.

You could rid them
of a problematic resolution,

for example.

Like Ingeborg.

Yes.

That's not bad.

Why do you want to help me anyway?

I see untapped potential in you,
Samy.

It's just a hunch,
but I get the feeling

you're not valued here.

You're not wrong.

But I've been here long enough
to be suspicious of people

claiming to help me for no reason.

Oh, I'm just a civil servant.

I don't get involved in politics.

I just want Europe to progress.

It's funny. You sound
exactly like Eamon.

-Do you know Eamon well?
-Yeah. No.

I'm realizing that I don't
know him at all.

I don't even know if he's...

-Eamon?
-Yeah.

-Oh yeah!
-Really?

He pretends he isn't, but...

If you knew the kinds of things
he organizes.

With colleagues from
other institutions too.

-Oh yeah.
-Never in the building,

always outside. In the city.

Yeah, yeah.

There's a well-organized network
in Brussels.

They all know each other.

But...

The European federalists
are everywhere.

Right.

So, he'll talk about

the democratization of Europe
and all that,

but behind the words,
it's always the same thing.

More power for Parliament.

In fine, for him.

I imagine he added

his appointment of agency directors
to your platform?

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

No. He hasn't mentioned that.

He's always trying to insert
his personal whims

into proposals, even at the expense
of members' priorities.

It's not very professional.

Thanks a lot.

You're my guest, Mr. Kantor.

No, I can't let you do that.

Well, thank you very much.

Samy.

Stand up for your priorities,
for the Blue Deal.

Not Eamon's.

I trust him.

You've been here

too long to be suspicious of people

who claim to help you for no reason.

Focus on Poland.

Poland. The republic of Poland.

It's in Central Europe.
It borders Germany.

Poland is the most Catholic country
in Europe.


are practicing Catholics.

What do Catholics hate?

Catholics are Christians

who recognize the authority
of the Pope.

They eat fish on Friday.

Yeah, we'll try to ban fish.

No, no, no, we'll never have
a majority

on the fishing committee.

What are Catholics afraid of?

Come in. I'll be right with you.

I'm finishing this...

"Creating anti-LGBT zones
in Poland..."

If you're busy, I can come back.

No, no. I'm sorry.

I have to finish

this resolution by tonight.
It's a pain.

Another environmental measure
to ease your conscience

without challenging
the neoliberal status quo?

No. This is about LGBT rights.

-Oh?
-Yeah,

we're trying to draw the attention
of the public to the Poles.

They're fed up.

Do you know what it means

to be Polish
in certain countries in Europe?

It's... We have to do something.

I didn't know you were involved
in these issues.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Of course.

But I'll finish up later.
Do you want to...

No, not at all. Keep going.
I can even help you.

Yeah, of course.

Knowing that you support me is huge.

Really.

Do you feel like
I'm supporting you now?

No, I don't feel...

Be careful though. You wrote "woman".

-Yeah.
-When you talk about contraception,

it's better to write,
"people with vulvas".

It's more inclusive.

Yeah, yeah, of course. I had...

I put "people with vulvas".

Yeah, yeah. "People with..."

"People with vulvas"?

Yeah, OK, I know it sounds weird,
but that's what they say.

I've called in the experts. Trust me.

Samy, I can't file a resolution

I didn't write myself.

-Yeah.
-Ontologically speaking,

-Yeah...
-it's not right.

I understand, but it's...

Look. The deputy rankings
just came out.

Yours is behind
Frederik Schlegelmilch.

-Really?
-Yeah.

Oh, dear.

That's bad. Schlegelmilch's
been in a coma for six months.

-Ah!
-Yeah.

Yeah.

How many resolutions have you
filed this year?

-Me? Uh... None.
-OK.

We've been working on
something on Switzerland.

OK, but the problem, Dragan,

is that the judge is often judged

based on the ranking
of his or her member.

I know. It's stupid,
but it's like with jockeys.

The horses all look the same.

-Do you know what I mean?
-Yeah.

No, but, ontologically,

it's complicated, but...

I won't force you to take this
ready-made resolution,

which I think is really
well-written and...

Actually, I think I'm going to
keep it, Samy.

-Really?
-Yeah.

-It's up to you.
-Oh, no, no. I... Yeah.

-Cool.
-I'll take care of it.

OK. I'll see you later.

-Cool.
-See you!

Bye, Samy.

Going up?

Torsten?

Yes.

Same.

I'm going to the first floor,
actually.

-Eamon.
-Samy.

I'm not fooled.

I know you have your own agenda.

Meaning?

In terms of
agency appointments and all that.

That's the Kantian in you.

"It may be that no moral action
has ever been taken.

"Because no truly
disinterested human action

"could possibly exist."

Yeah, right. Yes.