Greece faces nationwide strike as unions demand wage hikes, cost-of-living relief
A 24-hour nationwide strike is set to disrupt services across Greece on Wednesday, as the country’s two main labor unions demand higher wages and action on the rising cost of living.
Due to yesterday’s strike of journalists there is no newspaper circulation today
DRIVING THE DAY: BATTLE FOR THE FUTURE
AI ACT: The European Commission will today unveil a new plan as it seeks to hold its own in the global race for the next phase of the tech revolution: artificial intelligence. With the continent’s gaping competitiveness gap with the U.S. painfully obvious even before the Trump-instigated trade war, Brussels wants to ensure it’s not a laggard on AI.
The details: POLITICO’s ace tech team already got hold of the document. As our own Pieter Haeck reported, the text will detail how Europe can become an “AI Continent,” in the words of the Commission’s tech sovereignty chief Henna Virkkunen, with the plan based around five pillars, including skills, access to data and computer power.
But it’s the “regulatory simplification” pillar that’s bound to get everybody talking. The draft indicated the Commission was prepared to back away from some of the key tenets of the AI Act, which it unveiled with much fanfare as it sought to bring its regulatory heft to the emerging technology.
Listening to business: With the EU on a regulation clampdown since Ursula von der Leyen’s second Commission came into power in December, much of the text chimes with its promise in recent policy measures like the “Competitiveness Compass” proposal to reduce the burden on business. “There is an opportunity to minimise the potential compliance burden of the AI Act, particularly for smaller innovators,” the draft text reads. The Commission is keen to “streamline” rules and get rid of “obstacles” that it feels are slowing down EU companies.
Going giga: Another strand of the plan is providing infrastructure to power the AI revolution, with the Commission expected to launch a call to European countries that want to invest in or host a gigafactory, Pieter reports. That follows von der Leyen’s €20 billion promise earlier this year to build five gigafactories, which will have four times the processors of the current top-performing supercomputers, to train the most complex AI models.
Playing to the audience: Expect lots of questions on whether Europe is going soft on Big Tech when MEPs grill Virkkunen this afternoon in the Parliament. The industry is also watching closely: OpenAI’s top U.S.-based lobbyist, Chris Lehane, is in town for the occasion. He pushed for “simple and predictable rules” in an interview with Morning Tech.
Mark your calendars: Today’s announcement comes ahead of POLITICO’s AI & Tech Summit, which takes place in Brussels on May 13-14, featuring more than 30 speakers on topics including AI governance, cybersecurity and cloud technology. Check out our lineup here.
TRADE WAR LATEST
MINUTE PAST MIDNIGHT: A raft of U.S. tariffs are now up and running after Donald Trump pressed ahead with his April 9 plan to hit imports. A 20 percent levy on EU products coming into the U.S. kicked in at 6:01 a.m. Brussels time (with some exceptions). And Trump followed through on his threat to impose a levy of 104 percent on Chinese goods entering the U.S. market.
Countdown to vote: The focus in Brussels today will be on this afternoon’s vote on plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on U.S. imports as retaliation for steel and aluminum levies unveiled by Trump on March 12. As we reported earlier this week, bourbon, wine and dairy have been left off the list following a successful lobbying campaign by countries such as Italy and Spain, which feared retaliation from Washington. Giovanna Coi, Paroma Soni and Camille Gijs have this great explainer on how the EU is hitting back.
Logistics: The vote will take place this afternoon in the trade barriers regulation committee, Koen Verhelst and Camille report. In the unlikely event that a qualified majority — 14 countries — votes against the move, the process gets kicked up to an appeals committee. There, even more countries would need to object, with a reinforced qualified majority consisting of 16 countries representing at least 65 percent of the bloc’s population. (For more intricate details of EU trade policy, check out Morning Trade.)
Charm offensive: Meanwhile, the White House confirmed that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will meet Trump in the U.S. next Wednesday — the first opportunity the right-wing leader has to show if her natural political alliance with Trump can yield tangible results, as Joe Stanley-Smith reports. Ahead of that, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris is due to meet Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington today.
Don’t forget pharma: Though the pharmaceutical industry escaped the April 2 tariffs, the industry was braced for punitive action from Trump. Anxious pharma bosses met with Commission President von der Leyen on Tuesday, Mari Eccles reports in today’s Morning Health Care newsletter. Among those at the meeting: Bayer AG, Chiesi, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, the European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations.
Pleading their case: The industry raised “strong concerns” about the broad ramifications of tariffs, according to the readout from the Commission, “which would hurt both sides of the Atlantic, with implications for globally interconnected supply chains and availability of medicines for European and US patients alike,” and pushed for a “negotiated solution,” our health team reports.
Sure enough … Trump overnight said he’ll announce a “major” tariff on pharmaceutical imports “very shortly.” Speaking at an event at the National Republican Congressional Committee, Trump said: “We’re going to tariff our pharmaceuticals and once we do that they’re going to come rushing back into our country because we’re the big market.”
It’s a big world out there: Von der Leyen is scheduled to meet with representatives of the defense and chemicals industry in the coming days. But the Commission is also thinking about the long-term implications of America’s embrace of protectionism. With more than 80 percent of the EU’s external trade not focused on the U.S., Brussels is looking afresh at other partnerships.
WAITING FOR THE WHITE HOUSE: Trump administration officials say they’ve been inundated by foreign governments eager to negotiate better trade terms — but representatives of many that want to talk say they’re getting nowhere, my colleagues in Washington report. One problem is that Trump’s team hasn’t spelled out what concessions the president would find acceptable. Another is that top U.S. officials don’t have a mandate to negotiate. “Even if you have a meeting, apart from a nice tweet, you don’t get anything,” one diplomat said.
Rift deepens: It’s also increasingly clear there are substantive divisions among Trump’s top advisers. On Tuesday, Elon Musk escalated his public attacks on Peter Navarro, calling the trade adviser “dumber than a sack of bricks” and “Peter Retarrdo.” Megan Messerly explains the divisions.
ABOUT TRUMP’S GAS GAMBIT: The U.S. president wants the EU to spend $350 billion more on American energy to address a perceived transatlantic trade imbalance — but his tariffs are instead pushing Europe to look for savings rather than to splash cash. On Tuesday, EU countries advanced plans to loosen mandatory goals for refilling storage facilities ahead of winter in a bid to pay less for supplies, report Gabriel Gavin and Victor Jack.
BRUSSELS CALLS BEIJING: Von der Leyen also held a call with Chinese Premier Li Qiang Tuesday, ahead of an EU-China summit scheduled for July. Behind the day-to-day drama of Trump’s tariff threats lies serious concerns in Brussels about the impact of a flood of Chinese goods coming onto the EU market. Koen has the full details.
Ready to act: Deputy Director General of DG Trade Maria Martin-Prat De Abreu told MEPs Tuesday that the EU needs to closely monitor “whether the tariffs imposed by the U.S. will lead to trade diversion of Chinese exports into the European market,” Max Griera reports from the Parliament. She also noted that Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič warned Beijing on his visit to China 10 days ago that the EU will take “autonomous actions” over the issue of overcapacity and subsidization if necessary.
MERCOSUR GETS ITS MOJO BACK: But there are tentative hopes that the trade chaos unleashed by Trump could prompt a rethink among opponents of the EU’s trade agreement with a group of South American countries. French Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin told my colleague Giorgio Leali that while in its current form Mercosur is still not “acceptable,” Trump 2.0 is a “wake-up call on trade agreements.”
“Diversifying our trade outlets must be a priority if we want to make Europe not only a power ready for a showdown with the United States, but also a power open to other regions of the world,” he told Giorgio. “Mercosur is one of them, but the agreement just has to be acceptable. As it stands, it still isn’t.”
NOW READ THIS — FRANCE’S FIFTH REPUBLIC IS ON THE ROPES: A trade war brews to the west whilea real warrages to the east. Its parliament is hopelessly fractured. Its budget deficit remains stubbornly high. And its fourth prime minister in the last 18 months might be on his way out. The pillars of France’s 66-year-old Fifth Republic appear fundamentally ill-equipped to withstand the unprecedented onslaught of domestic and international crises, writes Clea Caulcutt in this big read.
UKRAINE
PM IN TOWN: EU High Representative Kaja Kallas will host Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal today for the EU-Ukraine Association Council. It comes as war grinds on in his country — and a ceasefire seems as remote as ever despite all the bluster emanating from the White House in the early weeks of the Trump presidency.
Eye on the prize: Top of the priority list for Ukraine is keeping its bid to join the EU high on the agenda, with Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos also attending this afternoon’s council. Brussels is making all the right noises: In a speech on Tuesday to members of the Verkhovna Rada, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola highlighted “Ukraine’s rightful place in the European family.” But the reality is that Hungary is far from convinced.
Let’s talk trade: A more pressing concern for Kyiv is confirmation on the eve of the council that the European Commission will let Ukraine’s emergency access to the EU market expire in June, as Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen told MEPs on Tuesday, Bartosz Brzeziński reports for Agri and Trade Pros.
It’s complicated: The temporary suspension of tariffs and quotas came into force after Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, but has been hugely controversial in countries like Poland, where farmers complain cheaper Ukrainian produce has flooded local markets. (Trade experts point out the reality is more nuanced.)
Plan B: “The Council has been very clear that there is no possibility of the extension,” Hansen told the agriculture committee Tuesday, but added that the Commission is preparing a new system of tariff quotas (which won’t be “at the same level” as today’s unrestricted access).
Next steps: Kyiv had hoped Brussels would put forward a new proposal ahead of today’s council — but with time running out, no draft has emerged. Hansen will meet with Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Vitaliy Koval Thursday to discuss next steps, Bartosz reports.
CHINA CONNECTION: Kyiv on Tuesday announced it had captured two Chinese troops fighting for Russia in Ukraine.Meanwhile, during a visit to the navy base of Yokosuka in central Japan, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte raised alarm about China’s military exercises near Taiwan and its army build-up, Šejla Ahmatović reports. “China is supporting Russia’s efforts, China is building up its armed forces — including its navy — at a rapid pace,” Rutte said at a press conference. “We cannot be naive, we really need to work together.”
NOT SO FAST: The commander of American forces in Europe, Christopher Cavoli, told a Congressional committee in Washington Tuesday that the U.S. should maintain its current military presence on the continent, my Stateside colleagues report. His view appears to be at odds with plans reportedly being considered by the Pentagon to withdraw as many as 10,000 troops from Eastern Europe, as NBC News reports.
BALKAN WARNING: Meanwhile, with Europe’s attention focused on Ukraine, tensions in the Western Balkans have been simmering. Leaders in the region worry Vladimir Putin will use the moment to furtherexploit fault lines in the former Yugoslavia, Sam Blewett reports from Belgrade.
IN OTHER NEWS
HUAWEI PROBE LATEST: One of Huawei’s most senior executives in Europe, identified as Yong J, is a suspect in the Belgian investigation into alleged corruption at the European Parliament benefiting the Chinese technology company, Elisa Braun reports.
TRUMP JR. IN ROMANIA BEFORE ELECTION: Donald Trump Jr. is set to visit Romania on April 28, a week before the first round of a presidential election rerun. He has no meetings with government officials scheduled. The visit comes after his repeated criticism of Romania’s Constitutional Court for annulling the December election, Elena Giordano and Sophia Cai write.
HOTTEST MARCH EVER: This March was Europe’s warmest on record, according to the EU’s Copernicus climate service, Giovanna Coi and Ketrin Jochecová report.
HOEKSTRA IN BRASÍLIA: EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra is pressing the flesh in Brazil today, where he’s due to meet Environment Minister Marina Silva. The trip comes ahead of this year’s COP climate change conference, to be held in Brazil in November. The timing is awkward, after the EU confirmed it will delay the release of its landmark 2040 climate target in the face of growing political opposition.
AP RESTORED TO WHITE HOUSE PRESS POOL: An American federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore the Associated Press to the group of media organizations granted access to the president in the Oval Office, Air Force One and elsewhere. Trump banned the wire service from the press pool for refusing to adopt his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” More here.