The Five Hardest Jobs in Brussels

For some politicians, Brussels is the place you are sent when you have a problem, or are no longer wanted in your country. For others, it is an opportunity to get a prestigious position that transcends rank or experience. At the same time, bureaucrats with little to no media experience appear before cameras every day as official spokespeople for the European Commission, while professional diplomats find themselves dealing with files with major implications for domestic policy. Working in Brussels, the capital of the European Union, can be a nightmare despite the fame, high salary, and other perks. Below are the five hardest jobs in Brussels and why they are so difficult.

1. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte Dutch and NATO officials have nicknamed Rutte "Teflon," perhaps because he is adept at maneuvering and getting out of tight spots. However, with Donald Trump in the White House, Rutte's job is arguably the hardest in Brussels. His current role seems less about managing the military alliance and more about trying to stop one person—Trump—from dismantling the entire alliance. The former Dutch prime minister has had some success in his role as a "Trump whisperer": shortly after Trump expressed a desire for Greenland, he met with Rutte and unexpectedly announced they had "forged a framework for a future agreement."

2. European Commission Spokesperson Paula Bianco Under European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the job of chief spokesperson has become an extremely difficult task. Officials say the president works in a "bunker," and only her chief of staff, Björn Seibert, is kept in the loop. This makes the job of Portuguese official Paula Bianco, appointed as the Commission's spokesperson in November 2024, one of the toughest in Brussels. She has to face journalists' questions in front of cameras every day, but often cannot answer, either because she is not allowed to or because she doesn't know the answer, according to officials and diplomats.

3. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas Relations between von der Leyen and her predecessor, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, are very poor, and it's even worse with Kaja Kallas. In an attempt to assert herself, Kallas tried to appoint a strong deputy secretary-general—Martin Selmayr, a former chief of staff with clout in the Commission. However, this move was thwarted by von der Leyen's office. A senior Commission official said Kallas "complains in private that (von der Leyen) is a dictator, but there's little she can or does do about it." Additionally, Kallas hails from small Estonia and her liberal party is small, making her position weaker than that of the Spanish socialist Borrell.

4. Hungary's Representative in Brussels Balint Odor Hungary's current representative to the Commission, Balint Odor, is seen as close to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party, unlike his predecessor, Tibor Stelbakh, who now works in the EU diplomatic corps. During Hungary's presidency of the EU Council last year, some diplomats expressed concern about sharing certain information with Hungarians due to Orbán's closeness to Russia. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto holds regular meetings with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, who is under EU sanctions. Odor told Politico: "It is an honor for me to serve my country and represent the interests of Hungary."

5. European Commissioner for Trade Maroš Šefčovič When a file is particularly difficult to handle, the Trade Commissioner, educated in Moscow and nicknamed "Mr. Fix-it," is called in. Maroš Šefčovič, a former member of the Communist Party of Slovakia, has been the EU's Trade Commissioner since October 2009, making him the longest-serving current commissioner. He has served under José Manuel Barroso as well as Juncker and von der Leyen. Šefčovič was brought in to oversee the EU's response to exceptional and complex challenges like Brexit and the European Green Deal. Now, in the Trump era, he is in charge of trade, but he does much more. For instance, when von der Leyen didn't want to go to the European Parliament in Strasbourg for a debate on her (and by extension, his) dismissal, she sent Šefčovič in her place.