Midday brief, in brief

Today at Commission, Brexit procedural

There’s a day to go until Article 50 is triggered and the Commission is ‘ready.’

In case you hadn’t noticed, Wednesday is the day when Article 50 will be triggered and it dominated the agenda at Tuesday’s midday briefing.

Chief spokesman Margaritis Schinas said commissioners will this week discuss the procedural aspects of the EU/U.K. negotiations — “we are ready, our teams are ready.”

The commissioners will, however, be in middle of their weekly meeting when the letter officially informing the EU of Britain’s intentions is delivered to European Council President Donald Tusk on Wednesday lunchtime.

Jean-Claude Juncker will not give a press conference or issue a statement, but Schinas said Juncker and Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will hold a two-hour public dialogue with citizens’ groups during the afternoon — so expect reporters to be on the lookout for Brexit quotes.

There were also questions asked about an opinion piece by Commission chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in the FT on Monday in which he called for the process to be as transparent as possible. Our Ryan Heath has already dissected what Barnier said and what he meant.

But how transparent will the talks be? The European institutions — and especially the Commission — have faced years of criticism over their handling of transparency and accountability issues during trade talks on the likes of TTIP and CETA with the U.S and Canada.

“We want this Commission to be remembered for transparency and accountability,” said Schinas. But not everything will be made public as Schinas warned that EU law on access to documents means sensitive dossiers such as those on nuclear safety can be locked away.

Readers of POLITICO’s Brussels Influence newsletter already know that transparency issues between national diplomats and Council officials are particularly sensitive, and the Commission taking a transparent line would put pressure on the national capitals to follow suit.

“I am not authorized to speak for the Council,” Schinas said.

In other news

The commissioners will on Wednesday also discuss the Rome Summit and First Vice President Frans Timmermans will present an anti-discrimination initiative.

The Commission on Tuesday published its 2016 statistics on road safety. Last year, 25,000 people died on EU roads — that’s 600 fewer deaths than in 2015.

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