In a leaked draft of EU leaders' priorities for the rest of the decade, the only mention of “environment” is a promise to create a “business-friendly environment.”

politico.eu/article/leaked…

EU defense: Because EDIP and EDIDP are not the same thing and it can get confusing, jacopo barigazzi and I cooked a cheat-sheet on EU defense acronyms. politico.eu/article/europe…

Come work with us!

POLITICO is looking for an EU politics reporter who knows and gets this town to join our team.

Feel free to DM me if you have any questions before applying.

More info here: jobs.mpleo.net/en/politico/00…

Fiscally hawkish Dombrovskis backs bigger EU budget after 2028

Strengthening security and defense shouldn't come at the expense of existing policies, he told Barbara Moens

Do other like-minded frugal countries think the same?

An Internal revolt is growing over von der Leyen’s SME envoy pick.

In response to VDL’s attempts to get past the controversy, the 4 commissioners leading the rebellion said this did not answer their concerns.

Pro subscribers can see the letter here.

pro.politico.eu/news/178222

Looking forward to moderating today’s event on the Recovery and Resilience Facility with Paolo Gentiloni Valdis Dombrovskis Thomas Dermine and many others.

You can tune in as of 9 here 👇

economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/events/recover…

EU leaders are set to call for a new European Competitiveness Deal and horizontal single market strategy by June 2025, according to draft conclusions of next week’s European Council, seen by POLITICO.

More in today’s Brussels Playbook with Jakob Hanke Vela

politico.eu/newsletter/bru…

The first Brussels Playbook by Elisa Braün , with a bang:

Top European prosecutors are investigating allegations of criminal wrongdoing in connection with vaccine negotiations between EC President Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer.

politico.eu/newsletter/bru…

For POLITICOEurope, I went to an impoverished Roma borough in eastern Slovakia that has one of the lowest turnouts in European elections in the bloc.

With Ketrin, we tried to understand what was keeping voters from the polls.

Story here: politico.eu/article/slovak…

Part of me still doesn’t believe it, though it’s been an entire year. Need I say it? I guess I do: Evan Gershkovich is not a spy. Trust me, I recruited him politico.eu/article/evan-g… #FreeEvan

EU countries’ bickering over whether to grant Ukraine’s farm production another year of access to their markets could well be a taste of what’s to come when — or if — Kyiv becomes the bloc’s 28th member.

With top colleague Bartosz Brzeziński

politico.eu/article/eu-dis…

The EU’s defense ministers will meet on April 22 in Luxembourg, two EU diplomats and one EU official told us.

The meeting symbolizes the growing sense of urgency in Brussels to step up on defense.

Brussels Playbook has the details. trib.al/LDxK1wV

Today’s Brussels Playbook:

- Extra meeting of defense ministers, symbolizing the growing sense of urgency
- The EU’s discord on Ukraine after the trade compromise

With help from our great newsroom

politico.eu/newsletter/bru…

Politico joined today's #RunForEvan to show our support for WSJ's detained journalist Evan Gershkovich.

Interesting food for thought on how some tragedies and conflicts command the world's attention and others pass almost unnoticed - by Gideon Rachman

ft.com/content/c91731…

After some high-level political haggling, the EU is this week set to announce its reshuffle of ambassadors.

This year’s rotations helps create an exit for high-level advisers, including Charles Michel’s chief of staff.

W jacopo barigazzi Jakob Hanke Vela

politico.eu/article/eu-top…

The EU's chief justice official Didier Reynders became an official candidate for the Council of Europe today and will now have to take a leave of absence.

W Clothilde Goujard

politico.eu/article/reynde…

Farmer fury has put the EU’s support for Ukraine to the test.
bit.ly/49eNROw

At POLITICOEurope, we care A LOT about the European Parliament election.

But you know who doesn't?

Many EU voters.

Learn more about the EU's election turnout problem 👉 politico.eu/article/vote-f…

EU leaders agree more money should go into arming Ukraine.

They just can’t agree on how to do that.
bit.ly/3x3SsFR