Clerics and seasoned attachés alike were awed by how much this establishment creature knew about their cloistered Catholic world, with one pointing out that he appeared to enjoy the Vatican brief more than he was supposed to — given he was officially supposed to prioritize the UN part of the job.
A diplomatic insider, meanwhile, said Selmayr seemed overqualified for the ambassadorship. “He is quite up for scheming, which is fun, but scheming about multilateral agriculture issues is hardly high geopolitics. You can tell he wants to be more forceful and make stuff happen quickly, but gets that isn’t how it works here … he does the job, it just isn’t a very taxing job.”
Sede vacante
The sight of one of the EU’s most accomplished backroom operators languishing in the Vatican presented a clear opportunity for the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, and her allies. For months, the former Estonian prime minister has been locked in a power struggle with national capitals over flagship policies such as sanctioning Israel and relations with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Kallas has also been in an increasingly bitter standoff with von der Leyen and her own all-powerful German head of cabinet, Selmayr’s successor, Björn Seibert.
“Kaja wants her own Björn,” said a third diplomat, “and that’s Martin.”
But there were concerns that unleashing Selmayr’s scheming in Brussels could worsen the already tense political landscape. “The only similarities between Björn and Martin are that they’re both very smart and they’re both from Germany,” said the senior EU official, arguing that Seibert strives for loyalty and quiet competence while Selmayr is a political animal with few such scruples.
