Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. PARLIAMENT HESITATES TO PUT THE HEAT ON AT THE COMMISSION GRILL As quite a few naïve Europeans woke up on Wednesday with Trump going to Make America Great Again, the Parliament relentlessly continued its once-in-the-cycle Commissioner-designate grilling with not a single Commissioner replaced so far. Since 2004's dismissal of openly homophobic designate Rocco Buttiglione, the Parliament has always required replacements, further written questionnaires or re-exams. If the most controversial Commissioners make it through next week, this session would confirm indeed that the Parliament's institutional control over Member States has been seriously reduced. Perhaps Hungarian Olivér Várhelyi might see his portfolio reduced as apparently, he doesn't understand that women’s health is an EU competence and he also inconveniently "knows best" a controversial…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. GEORGIAN ELECTIONS FURTHER COMPLICATE EU ACCESSION Following Georgia’s legislative elections on 28 October, the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory with 54% of the vote. Amid reports of vote-buying, irregularities, and polling station violence, international observers including the OSCE declared the elections neither free nor fair. Pro-European opposition leaders, led by President Salome Zourabichvili, condemned the outcome as fraudulent and called for public protest. In a controversial move, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, visited Tbilisi to endorse Georgian Dream’s vision of “pro-European” politics, which he framed as a commitment to peace and a rejection of Western calls to confront Russia. EU leaders, however, voiced alarm over Georgia’s democratic backsliding which could lead to a slowdown of the EU accession process, and…