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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: The EU’s ambassador to Sudan was assaulted “in his own residency” on Monday, the bloc’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said overnight, amid a violent power struggle between rival military factions. A spokesperson for the European External Action Service confirmed the victim was Aidan O’Hara, from Ireland, who “is OK” and “continuing his duties.” Emma Anderson has the details.
The latest: Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said he was “deeply concerned at the serious incident,” but added that O’Hara was “not seriously hurt,” according to the Irish Times.
DRIVING THE DAY: CLIMATE VOTES 
CRUNCH TIME FOR FIT FOR 55: After two years of heated negotiations, EU lawmakers will today vote through an avalanche of climate bills known as Fit for 55 — a big deal with an unfortunate name.
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But it’s a serious (and divisive) matter: Today’s vote will include three of the package’s most controversial files …
— A major reform of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (to charge drivers and households for their heating emissions);
— The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (to charge imports of steel and other goods for their carbon emissions); and
— The Social Climate Fund (a new cash pot to mitigate the impact of a carbon price on fossil fuels for consumers).
Expectations: Given the EU reached a political agreement in December, lead MEPs say they expect the votes to pass, even if narrowly.
Big deal: “We are on the verge of adopting the biggest climate protection law of all time,” said key lawmaker Peter Liese, who steered the discussions on behalf of the European People’s Party.
Refresher: Last December, EU brokers established that power generators and heavy polluters covered by the scheme will have to curb their pollution by 62 percent by the end of the decade, 1 percent more than what the European Commission had initially proposed.
The carbon border tax is meant to at least partially offset the unfair advantage producers have in most countries outside of the EU, where they are not subject to strict climate regulations. In parallel, the EU will phase out free CO2 allowances for its own steel and cement producers, ending in 2034.
French trouble: But French Greens and S&D MEPs could vote against the measures — clearly not convinced by the French saying that “le mieux est l’ennemi du bien” (perfect is the enemy of good).
The sticking point remains the establishment of a parallel carbon market to cover fossil fuels used to power cars and heat buildings from 2027, a divisive policy that critics say will inevitably lead to deeper social fractures. As Playbook reported back in the day, the proposal caused a split in the College of Commissioners, with a number of heavy hitters warning against a political backlash if the EU imposes an extra tax on citizens’ heating bills.
The deal now included safeguards to avoid price spikes, notably an emergency brake to be triggered if natural gas prices surge above €106 per megawatt hour on the benchmark TTF hub; if that happens the start of the scheme would be delayed by one year to 2028. The pact also foresees that if prices for the new levy rise above €45 per ton, then additional credits will be released to lower prices — a provision that will be in place until 2030.
How the sausage is made: In theory to soften the blow for households, EU negotiators agreed on €86.7 billion in funding to be made available from 2026 — one year before the new levy is introduced. However, the cash pot is the subject of criticism for lacking a clear focus on the poorest, and instead being used to buy support from EU governments that were initially against the new rules.
Missed opportunity: The new rules will bring the EU to the forefront of the global fight against climate change. But the episode also highlights how the bloc’s famous “democratic deficit” leads to objectively worse policies. People will be charged for their emissions, so it would have been logical for the funds to be redistributed to them. Instead, the cash will flow to national governments, where politicians will decide how they are spent.
Blame Brussels: So instead of directly helping those who will struggle most footing the bill for the new rules, the EU’s pot of cash will help national governments — who can then blame Brussels for the new levy and reap the rewards of the extra money for their budgets. Alas, the Commission needed the backing of those governments, not of citizens, to get the new rules approved.
ALL ABOUT MONEY
FISCAL RULES REFORM INCOMING: Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis has confirmed that Brussels will put forward its proposals to reform the EU’s stability and growth pact by the end of this month. Following pressure from Germany and frugal member countries, the Commission is now looking into “numerical benchmarks” — a common hard debt reduction rule that would apply for all, rather than just case-by-case decisions by the Commission on how quickly countries have to reduce their debt.
BANK BAILOUT REFORMS LAND: After years of heated negotiations, the EU is finally bringing forward plans on how mid-sized banks would be bailed out in a crisis — closing a gap that remained after previous reforms. European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis and Financial Services Commissioner Mairead McGuinness will present the plans at around 4 p.m. in Strasbourg.
More coverage: Under the plans, more eurozone banks will be brought into the resolution framework, instead of being forced into insolvency like normal companies. This could be the case even for smaller banks, if insolvency would have a regional impact. The reform also makes it easier for mid-sized banks to tap into an €80 billion pot of money called the Single Resolution Fund, also funded by bank contributions.
Stricter rules to protect taxpayers: The new rules also limit public cash injections to prevent governments from saving banks with failing business models.
Germany secured exemptions for its politically sensitive cooperative banks and its savings banks, which are mostly chaired by local politicians and whose “institutional protection schemes” have been criticized by experts for their complex decision-making structures.
Lindner push: The exemptions come after Finance Minister Christian Lindner warned the Commission in emails obtained by POLITICO that the entire reform was at risk unless Brussels made exemptions for Germany’s mid-sized banks. My colleague Hannah Brenton has more here, and POLITICO Pro Financial Services subscribers can see the draft proposals here.
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RUSSIAN WAR
UKRAINE GRAIN IMPORT BANS SPARK FURY: EU officials, diplomats and businesses have slammed import bans on Ukrainian agriculture products as illegal and counterproductive. It comes after Poland, Hungary and Slovakia banned imports of Ukrainian grain and other agri goods citing public policy concerns and arguing that the products had flooded their markets and threatened their local farmers’ livelihoods. The issue risks turning into a ticking time bomb, report my colleagues Leonie Kijewski, Bartosz Brzezinski and Sarah Anne Aarup.
DISPATCH FROM ZAPORIZHZHIA: My colleague Veronika Melkozerova has spoken with several people who work at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and has this dispatch from Ukraine. The facility requires access to electricity to ensure reactor cooling and other safety functions, but its links to the Ukrainian grid have been cut six times since last March, forcing the ZNPP to rely on diesel-powered generators for emergency backup power, Veronika reports.
ANOTHER MAIDAN? After the war, Ukrainians could be impatient to finish what they started during the Maidan Revolution, reports my colleague Jamie Dettmer from Kyiv.
EU ON TOUR
THE JET SET CROWD: Officials from the European Commission’s competition department had their travel costs paid for by others for 150 missions last year, according to a freedom of information request by my colleague Edith Hancock.
Breakdown: DG COMP staff carried out 150 missions “for which expenses were totally or partially paid by third parties,” the Commission said. All missions were short and enabled officials to take part in “events, speeches, panels, conferences or lectures on various horizontal competition issues.” Some 23 missions were funded at least partly by law firms, consultancy companies and industry groups.
The reasoning: Where paid-for travel was accepted it was “in view of the advocacy and reaching-out purposes of the missions, allowing to focus the Commission’s budget on missions related to investigations,” said Commission spokesperson Arianna Podestà.
New rules: The Commission has now tightened its rules, as Playbook reported last month, and officials can no longer accept sponsored travel or accommodation, except for travel costs paid by universities, EU governments and organizations like the United Nations or G20/G7. There also needs to be a conflict-of-interest check to accept a contribution toward expenses and paid travel for a director general will need to be cleared by a commissioner’s head of Cabinet.
Grounded: Several officials told Playbook they have had to pull out of conferences or participate remotely rather than in person, as the Commission has a limited travel budget.
Think of the emissions: “Participation to conferences, lectures, academic discussions has always been an important part of DG Competition’s advocacy activity. Therefore, participation of staff to these events will continue, also with in-person speakers,” said Podestà. But the Commission is also aiming to reduce its carbon footprint and encourages staff to participate via video, she added.
COMMISSION’S PLATFORM POLICE OPENS HQ IN SEVILLE: One of the most sought-after Commission locations is opening its doors today: the European Center for Algorithmic Transparency, a sort of digital inspectorate which will look inside the brains of big digital platforms to help Brussels enforce the EU’s new digital content law, the Digital Services Act. You can watch the official opening of the center at 11 a.m. CET here.
Wish EU were here: Set under the scorching Sevillian sun and surrounded by palms and orange trees, the center will gather about 30 staff, including data scientists and legal officers to delve into platforms’ all-powerful codes that decide what we see online, Clothilde Goujard writes in to report (there’s more info in today’s POLITICO Pro Morning Tech newsletter).
**Would you like to know more about the latest space developments in the EU? Join the discussion with EU Space Agency’s Executive Director Rodrigo da Costa at POLITICO Live’s Competitive Europe Summit on June 27-28. The spots are running out, register here!**
IN OTHER NEWS
COVID GROUNDS ANOTHER COMMISSIONER: The EU’s climate policy chief Frans Timmermans has postponed a planned trip to China after testing positive for COVID-19, a member of his Cabinet said Monday. Timmermans is the second commissioner to cancel a trip to China in less than a week after Josep Borrell, the bloc’s foreign policy chief — although the two events seem to be unrelated. My colleague Nicolas Camut has more.
Still testy: China has scrapped most of its coronavirus restrictions and testing requirements, but maintains an obligation for foreigners to test before and after entering the country.
And speaking of China: The country’s GDP grew 4.5 percent in the first quarter of the year, boosted by increased consumption and retail sales after it abandoned zero-COVID. AP has more.
SPANISH IN-FIGHTING AHEAD OF EU PRESIDENCY: Political bickering ahead of Spain’s EU presidency, which kicks off in July, spilled out into the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Monday, Eddy Wax writes in to report. MEPs from the center-right opposition Popular Party boycotted a meeting about the presidency with Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares after accusing the Socialist-led coalition government of failing to communicate.
Trading barbs: Albares criticized the PP outside the hemicycle Monday evening, telling journalists: “There are moments in which one should be the opposition but there are also moments when you have to be Spain.” But PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo accused Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez of refusing to meet him to discuss plans for the presidency, saying he gets more info from the current Swedish presidency about Madrid’s planning.
Why the drama? Spain will hold a national election during its six months at the EU’s helm, and it seems campaigning has already begun.
AGENDA
— Informal meeting of environment ministers in Stockholm at 8:50 a.m. Arrivals from 7:45 a.m. Watch.
— European Parliament plenary continues in Strasbourg. Highlights: Commission President Ursula von der Leyen participates in debate on EU-China relations at 9 a.m. … voting session at noon … EP President Roberta Metsola press conference on the Fit for 55 package at 2 p.m. … adoption of the cyber package at 3 p.m. (times approximate). Full agenda. Watch.
— College of Commissioners meeting at 2:30 p.m. Readout and press conference by Commission VP Margrethe Vestager and Commissioner Mariya Gabriel at 3 p.m. … presser Vestager, Commission VP Margaritis Schinas and Commissioner Thierry Breton at 4 p.m. … and by Commission VP Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner Mairead McGuinness on the crisis management and deposit insurance framework at 4:30 p.m. Watch.
— Parliament President Roberta Metsola meets the French Secretary of State for European Affairs Laurence Boone at 3:15 p.m.
— German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets President of Switzerland Alain Berset. Press conference at 11:50 a.m.
— China’s Defense Minister Li Shangfu continues visit to Russia.
— NATO Conference on Arms Control, Disarmament and Weapons of Mass Destruction Non-Proliferation in Washington D.C. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg delivers remarks (online) at 3:30 p.m. Watch. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will also speak.
BRUSSELS CORNER
FOOD PRICES SURGE IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: It’s going to cost you more to stay caffeinated and fed in the European Parliament in both Strasbourg and Brussels from this month, with prices going up by between 6 and 14 percent as a result of inflation. Signs at the so-called Flower Bar and the MEPs’ restaurant said the rises are due to higher costs of ingredients, energy and salaries. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause,” the signs say.
Yes, chef: David Gueble, the Parliament’s executive chef, told Eddy Wax: “We can’t sell at a loss. For us it was vital to be able to continue working.” Chef Gueble said they’d been asking for a big price rise for a long time but pledged costs will remain “attractive.”
MORE STRIKES: Firefighters and other emergency services workers plan to go on a strike unless their demands are met in a Wednesday meeting with the responsible authorities. The public sector union (SLFP-VSOA) has filed the strike notice, demanding more staff and resources to ease workload, and denouncing the government’s pension plan, which aims to raise the retirement age to 67. The possible strikes would affect all emergency services and would occur before May 1, according to a press release.
LEONARD TUNNEL RENOVATION: The second phase of the year-long renovation of the Leonard tunnel in Tervuren on the outskirts of Brussels has started. Works will be carried out at night and during the weekends, but expect disruption and diversions.
SAINT-JOSSE COMMUNE TO REIMBURSE COMMISSION: The Saint-Josse municipality must reimburse the European Commission €5.5 million for unduly collected taxes from 2019 to 2022, RTBF reports. The municipality collected office fees from the EU offices in skyscraper Covent Garden — but the EU institutions should be exempt from the taxes.
BRUSSELS BIENNALE OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE: The Brussels Biennale of Modern Architecture starts today, focusing on post-war heritage and legacy of Willy Van Der Meeren, a Belgian furniture designer. Running till April 23.
SPOTTED at a play and panel debate at KVS last night: Rector of the College of Europe Federica Mogherini, EEAS’ Delphine Pronk, Dutch Ambassador to Belgium Pieter Jan Kleiweg, German Ambassador to Belgium Martin Kotthaus.
NEW JOB 1: Oliver Röpke will become the new president of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) for the 2023-2025 mandate on April 26. He is currently the president of the Workers’ Group at the EESC.
NEW JOB 2: Marietje Schaake from Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center has been appointed a special adviser to European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
BIRTHDAYS: MEPs Mohammed Chahim, Petar Vitanov and Kostas Papadakis; French Labour Minister Elisabeth Borne; POLITICO’s Paola Tamma; Kornelia Kozovska, spokesperson of Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe; Quanto’s Serge Chevelev; Finnish economist and Nobel Prize winner Bengt Robert Holmström; Michael D. Higgins, president of Ireland; Boris Ruge, vice chairman of the Munich Security Conference; German diplomat/COREPER II spokesperson Susanne Körber.
THANKS to Gabriel Gavin, Hannah Brenton, Clothilde Goujard, Edith Hancock, Gian Volpicelli, Playbook reporter Ketrin Jochecová and producer Grace Stranger.
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