The European Parliament is postponing making a call on whether to ask a far-right group to pay back €4 million until the EU’s prosecutor concludes its investigation into the group’s alleged mismanagement of funds. The Parliament’s Bureau, composed of President Roberta Metsola and the 14 vice presidents, will on Monday evening rubber-stamp the recommendation from the Parliament’s secretary-general to delay closing the 2024 accounts of the now-defunct Identity and Democracy group, according to a note seen by POLITICO. The Parliament’s administration found irregularities in public procurement and donations to the ID group — former home to France’s Marine Le Pen, Austria’s Herbert Kickl and Italy’s Matteo Salvini — to the tune of €4.3 million between 2019 and 2024, after which the European Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into the matter, as reported by POLITICO. What makes the affair complicated is that the ID group dissolved after last year’s EU election, with a majority of its members and staff absorbed into the new Patriots for Europe group. While the Parliament’s budgetary control committee considers the two groups to be related — and therefore, the Patriots potentially liable to pay back the cash — the Patriots have pushed back, arguing that they are two separate legal entities. “The absurd claim that the Patriots are the legal successors to the ID group is baseless,” Patriots MEP Tamás Deutsch said in September, after the budgetary control committee instructed the secretary-general to look into recovering the allegedly misspent funds. The secretary-general should “assess the potential liabilities of the responsible [lawmakers] and hierarchy for intentional or gross-negligent authorization of irregular expenditure,” the committee said in a letter addressed to Metsola. A spokesperson for EPPO declined to give a timeline for the results of its probe. “The investigation is ongoing and will take as long as necessary to examine all relevant elements, both incriminating and exculpatory,” they said.

BRUSSELS — Europe is finally firing back at Elon Musk. Aerospace companies Airbus, Leonardo and Thales said Thursday they had reached a preliminary agreement to combine their space activities to create the kind of European champion that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has envisaged. Announcing “a leading European player in space,” the companies said they would combine their satellite and space systems manufacturing into a €6.5 billion business that will employ around 25,000 people across Europe.  The three-way deal seeks to create a challenger to Musk’s SpaceX — especially in low-earth orbit satellites of the type that power his Starlink internet service. SpaceX’s projected 2025 revenue is around $15 billion. The deal — initially named Project Bromo after a volcano in Indonesia — has been a long time coming. Talks among the three companies were complicated by the involvement of five governments as shareholders or partners. And winning antitrust approval was always going to be a tall order. France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the U.K. will all have an interest in the new company, which will be headquartered in Toulouse in southern France but will be split out into five different legal entities to preserve sovereign interests. The governance structure mirrors that of European missilemaker MDBA.  Airbus, the European aerospace giant, will own a 35 percent stake, while Leonardo of Italy and Thales of France will own 32.5 percent each. There will be a sole yet-to-be-named CEO and managing directors for each country, an Airbus spokesperson told POLITICO. French Economy Minister Roland Lescure hailed the announcement as “excellent news.” “The creation of a European satellite champion allows us to increase investment in research and innovation in this strategic sector and reinforce our sovereignty in a context of intense global competition,” he said in a post on Bluesky. Sounding rather less enthusiastic, a spokesperson for German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said Berlin was following the possible consolidation of the European aerospace industry “with great interest” and was in touch with Airbus and its defense subsidiary. LEAGUE OF CHAMPIONS France and Germany have been vocal on the need to create continental champions — with industry chiefs from both countries recently issuing a joint appeal to Brussels to relax its merger rules to enable companies to gain scale and compete in a global setting. In a twist of irony, the deal involves a company — Airbus — that is widely seen as the only European corporate champion ever built. With roots dating back to 1970, Airbus was created in its current incarnation through a Franco-German-Spanish merger in 2000. France and Germany each own 10 percent stakes and Spain 4 percent. Italy has a 30 percent stake in Leonardo, which in turn owns 33 percent of Thales Alenia Space.  The new company will pool, build and develop “a comprehensive portfolio of complementary technologies and end-to-end solutions, from space infrastructure to services.” It is expected to generate annual synergies producing “mid triple digit million euro” operating income five years after closing, which is expected in 2027, according to a press release.  MERGER HURDLE The tie-up requires a green light from the Commission’s competition directorate, which will have to weigh the tension between its current rulebook for reviewing mergers and von der Leyen’s desire to pick European winners. The joint venture would compete with overseas players on satellites for commercial telecommunications. However, it would face scant competition for military and public procurement tenders in the EU, for example with the European Space Agency (ESA). These are typically restricted to home-grown bidders. Rolf Densing, ESA’s director of operations, has voiced concerns that the deal would leave the agency with limited options for sourcing satellite contracts. Germany’s OHB would be left as its last remaining competitor. OHB’s CEO Marco Fuchs has warned that the deal threatens to create a monopoly that would harm customers and European industry. That could herald a rerun of the tensions that the Commission faced when it blocked a Franco-German train industry merger between Siemens and Alstom in 2019 — although today the political environment is more favorable to the companies.  The Commission’s competition directorate is under pressure to broaden its views on mergers to take into account the bloc’s wider push for growth and an increased capacity to compete with U.S. and Chinese players. A review of the bloc’s merger guidelines is due next year, according to the Commission’s latest work program. Alexandre Léchenet in Paris and Tom Schmidtgen in Berlin contributed reporting.

TIRANA — Albania has become the first country in the world to have an AI minister — not a minister for AI, but a virtual minister made of pixels and code and powered by artificial intelligence. Her name is Diella, meaning sunshine in Albanian, and she will be responsible for all public procurement, Prime Minister Edi Rama said Thursday. During the summer, Rama mused that one day the country could have a digital minister and even an AI prime minister, but few thought that day would come around so quickly.  At the Socialist Party assembly in Tirana on Thursday, where Rama announced which ministers would get the chop and which would stay on for another mandate, he also introduced Diella, the only non-human member of the government. “Diella is the first member not physically present, but virtually created by artificial intelligence,” he told party members. Rama stated that decisions on tenders would be taken “out of the ministries” and placed in the hands of Diella, who is “the servant of public procurement.” He said the process will be “step-by-step,” but Albania will be a country where public tenders are “100 percent incorruptible and where every public fund that goes through the tender procedure is 100 percent legible.” “This is not science fiction, but the duty of Diella,” he said. Diella has already been introduced to Albanian citizens as she powers the country’s e-Albania platform, which allows citizens to access almost all government services digitally. She even has an avatar, appearing as a young woman dressed in traditional Albanian clothing. Diella will evaluate tenders and have the right to “hire talents here from all over the world,” while breaking down “the fear of prejudice and rigidity of the administration.” Albania has long battled with corruption, particularly in public administration and in the area of public procurement. The matter has been repeatedly highlighted by the European Union in its annual rule of law reports. Rama swept to a historic fourth mandate in May 2025, on a ticket of joining the bloc by 2030.

Belgium will join the group of countries that will recognize the state of Palestine at this month’s U.N. General Assembly and will impose sanctions on Israel over the war in Gaza, Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot announced overnight. The recognition of Palestine would only be formalized if Hamas releases all remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and the militant group “no longer has any role in managing Palestine,” Prévot said. In the meantime, Belgium will also impose “firm sanctions” on the Israeli government, Prévot said. The measures include a ban on importing products from illegal settlements, a review of public procurement policies with Israeli companies and restrictions on consular assistance to Belgians living in illegal settlements. Prévot said two “extremist” Israeli ministers, several “violent settlers” and Hamas leaders would be designated “persona non grata” in Belgium. While he didn’t name the ministers, they are likely to be Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who have been sanctioned by other countries including the U.K. over accusations they incite violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. “This is not about sanctioning the Israeli people but about ensuring that their government respects international and humanitarian law and taking action to try to change the situation on the ground,” Prévot said. In July, French President Emmanuel Macron said France would recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. meeting, due to be held from Sept. 9 to 23 in New York, and more than a dozen other Western countries have since said they would do the same. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said the move feeds antisemitism, “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims.” In his post in the early hours of Tuesday, Prévot said Belgium would make a “firm commitment to calling for European measures targeting Hamas and supporting new Belgian initiatives to combat antisemitism, further mobilizing all our security services and involving representatives of Jewish communities.” Prévot also voiced support for the EU to suspend its association agreement with Israel. The European Commission has proposed suspending parts of the agreement dealing with research and development after concluding Israel had breached its human rights obligations under the deal, but the proposal has so far been blocked because Germany, among others, wasn’t willing to support penalizing Israel in this way. Prévot and his centrist Les Engagés party last month threatened to block government business if their Flemish nationalist and liberal coalition partners obstructed their plans to take a tougher stance against Israel. The Belgian government has since had multiple crisis meetings seeking to resolve the impasse.

LONDON — More than 70 MPs and peers have urged U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to block scandal-hit tech firm Fujitsu from bidding for control of a major post-Brexit software platform. The Japanese IT giant continues to face intense public scrutiny after faulty data from its Horizon software led to 1,000 innocent workers at the U.K.’s Post Office being wrongly convicted. In a letter to the prime minister seen by POLITICO, 32 MPs and 44 peers expressed concern that Fujitsu continues to bid for public contracts, including a contract with HM Revenue and Customs to run the Trader Support Service (TSS).  Fujitsu is bidding for a £370 million contract to retain control of the platform, which helps businesses navigate complex post-Brexit customs arrangements for moving goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Fujitsu’s bid was first reported by POLITICO in July. Continuing to award public contracts to the firm “raises serious questions about the standards of fairness, accountability, and due diligence guiding public procurement in this country,” the letter said. “What message does it send when a company responsible for such harm is allowed to continue profiting from public money, unpenalised and unaccountable?” The U.K. lawmakers urge the government to institute a review of Fujitsu’s eligibility to bid for critical public services, including its current re-tender for the TSS. They also ask that “any government supplier involved in systemic failures, like Fujitsu, demonstrate meaningful remediation and cooperation with compensation processes as a condition of continued commercial engagement.” “This is not only about money,” the letter added. “It is about justice, accountability, and whether it is morally acceptable for Fujitsu to continue to profit from the public purse. The Post Office Horizon scandal destroyed lives. That injustice must not be compounded by the continuing awarding of lucrative government contracts to Fujitsu.” Their letter, first reported by The Times, comes at an awkward time for the government, as Trade Minister Douglas Alexander embarks on a four-day trip to Japan to boost trade ties. A government spokesperson said: “We have been clear that those responsible for the Horizon scandal must be held to account. Fujitsu has committed to withdraw from bidding for contracts with new government customers until the Post Office Inquiry concludes. We will not hesitate to take action, where appropriate, based on the final findings.” A Fujitsu spokesperson said: “We have apologised for, and deeply regret, our role in sub-postmasters’ suffering. We hope for a swift resolution that ensures a just outcome for the victims. We are considering the recommendations set out by Sir Wyn in Volume One of the Inquiry’s report, and are engaged with Government regarding Fujitsu’s contribution to compensation.”

Brussels says it struck the best trade deal it could with Washington — even if Paris and other European capitals aren’t buying it.  In a last-ditch effort to fend off Donald Trump’s threat to raise tariffs on most EU goods to 30 percent on Aug. 1, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday flew with her negotiating team to the U.S. president’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland and, in about an hour, locked down a preliminary deal.  “This is clearly the best deal we could get under very difficult circumstances,” EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič said Monday.  The deal, which imposes a 15 percent tariff on most imports from the EU, “saves trade flows, saves the jobs in Europe” and “opens a new chapter in EU-U.S. relations,” he told reporters.  “It’s not only about … trade: It’s about security, it is about Ukraine, it is about current geopolitical volatility,” said Šefčovič, indicating that guaranteeing Washington’s continued military support for Ukraine and NATO played a central part in the negotiations — and in pushing Brussels to clinch a deal. But while the EU executive hails the mere fact of sealing a deal a success, that didn’t satisfy some EU heavyweights like France and industry lobbies, which accused Brussels of giving in too easily to Trump’s demands. Unlike German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who were quick to welcome the deal, French President Emmanuel Macron has remained silent. His Prime Minister François Bayrou, meanwhile, slammed the accord as an act of “submission” to Washington. Germany’s main industry lobby BDI said it sent “a fatal sign” regarding the future of transatlantic trade. In France, big-business group Medef said the outcome demonstrates that the EU still struggles to win respect, while the country’s confederation of small- and medium-sized enterprises said the deal will have a “disastrous impact.”  “The lesson of this agreement: We are an economic giant but a political dwarf,” said Valerie Heyer, leader of the liberal Renew group in the European Parliament, joining the chorus of disapproval from French politicians. AS GOOD AS IT GETS?  “It was heavy lifting we had to do,” von der Leyen said after her meeting with Trump on Sunday evening. “But now we made it.” Yes, the EU made it — but at a significant political and economic price that some regard as too high. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were quick to welcome the deal. | Angelo Carconi/EPA “Trump has won, there’s no question about that,” Bernd Lange, a German Social Democrat who chairs the trade committee in the European Parliament, told POLITICO.  As part of the deal, Brussels not only agreed to lower its tariffs to zero on some U.S. imports such as cars, but also committed to purchase $750 billion worth of energy and to invest $600 billion more than planned in the U.S.  What’s more, the provisional agreement — which isn’t legally binding and still has to be locked in through a joint statement, to be published ahead of Aug. 1 — leaves a host of points open, giving Trump wiggle room to change his mind further down the line.  The Commission has, for instance, been reassured that sectors that are currently undergoing separate investigations in the U.S. and might soon face sectoral tariffs, such as pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, won’t face a tariff higher than 15 percent. But there’s no legal guarantee of that.  Steel and aluminum will remain subject to 50 percent tariffs after both sides committed to work together to create a ring fence to address global overcapacity.  David Kleimann, a senior trade expert at the ODI think tank in Brussels, called the deal a “clear-cut political defeat for the EU.”  “The optics of an EU Commission president surrendering to a U.S. President Trump may have lasting effects on the identification of the Union’s citizens with the supranational project,” he added.  NO GUN ON THE TABLE Throughout the lengthy negotiation process France has played the role of the bad cop, accusing the Commission of being too weak and calling on Brussels to resort to heavier trade weapons including its trade “bazooka,” the Anti-Coercion Instrument. The European Commission won approval from national capitals to prepare and eventually strike back with retaliatory tariffs hitting nearly €100 billion in U.S. goods, and to look into readying the instrument — which could be used to target services or restrict access to public procurement tenders.   But it never resorted to using those tools, even after Trump escalated the standoff earlier this month by threatening to jack up tariffs if no deal were done by Aug. 1. EU countries repeatedly shied away from giving the Commission a mandate to get tougher. Prime Minister François Bayrou slammed the accord as an act of “submission” to Washington. | Mohammed Badra/EPA “There has not been a united front of member countries calling for confrontation over the past days,” said Elvire Fabry, a trade expert at the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris. That’s why Brussels was never able to go beyond threatening to deploy the Anti-Coercion Instrument.  And, as Šefčovič acknowledged, Brussels has to think very hard before launching a full-scale trade war with an ally it relies on for its security and energy. “There is a dependence on U.S. security guarantees on Ukraine and energy dependency which limits the EU’s ability to confront the U.S.,” Fabry said.  Antonia Zimmermann reported from Brussels and Giorgio Leali reported from Paris. Oliver Noyan and Romanus Otte contributed reporting from Berlin.

The EU will not be able to keep its markets open to Chinese exports unless Beijing takes decisive action to rebalance their trading relationship, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after a summit on Thursday. “Unlike other markets, Europe keeps its markets open to Chinese goods. However, this openness is not matched by China,” von der Leyen told a news conference after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing. She highlighted that the EU’s trade deficit with China had doubled over the past decade, to more than €300 billion. “We have reached an inflection point,” she said. “Trade must become more balanced.” Expectations on trade progress had been low ahead of the one-day summit, with a fight over the EU’s imposition of anti-subsidy duties on Chinese electric vehicles last year still unresolved. In another tit-for-tat dispute, the two sides have closed their public markets to each other for tenders for medical devices. Von der Leyen said that leaders in their discussions had focused on market access, where she highlighted the principle of reciprocity and said the two sides had agreed to work on “concrete solutions” on public procurement. On overcapacity — China’s excess production of subsidized products such as steel, solar panels or batteries — she said Beijing had shown willingness to reduce its export surpluses by boosting domestic consumption. “Without progress it will be very difficult for the European Union to maintain openness,” she said, highlighting the diversion of trade flows from other markets that have closed the door to Chinese exports. Finally, on export controls, von der Leyen said it was vital to maintain reliable supplies of critical raw materials in which China is the dominant supplier. She acknowledged Beijing’s efforts on fast-tracking deliveries and developing a support mechanism for business that need to access such minerals for their operations.

It was supposed to be a celebration. But ahead of a meeting of European and Chinese leaders in Beijing on Thursday, expectations could hardly be lower.  After Donald Trump’s return to the White House, hopes were high that Beijing and Brussels could reach a gradual détente. And this year’s EU-China summit, marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations, was meant to reflect that. Fast-forward six months and relations have hit a new low.  “The EU-China relationship has been an increasingly tense relationship for the past six to seven years, and it’s not getting any better,” said Noah Barkin, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund think tank. “The summit is likely to underscore that both as far as the economic relationship goes and as far as China’s support for Russia goes, there has been very little progress between Brussels and Beijing.” As she tries to smooth ties with Washington, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s tone toward Beijing has turned increasingly hawkish. In reply, China has warned against sealing any transatlantic trade deal that would harm its interests.  The elephant in the room, in addition to the long-running trade disputes: Russia’s war on Ukraine. And, right on cue before the summit, the EU listed two Chinese banks in its latest sanctions against Russia, leading Beijing to vent its “strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition” at a step that it called “egregious.” Despite the harsher tone, Dutch Member of the European Parliament Bart Groothuis still thinks “the EU is handling China too carefully.” China’s crackdown on exports of critical raw materials are a case in point, he told POLITICO, and demand a tough response: “You’ll have to hit back with market access,” said Groothuis, who sits on the Parliament’s trade committee. The irritants are multiplying: Earlier this month, Beijing banned government purchases of EU medical devices, in retaliation against Brussels putting up rules for Chinese medical equipment. That comes on top of a lingering dispute over the EU’s imposition of duties on Chinese-made electric vehicles last year and Beijing’s retaliatory duties on European liquor. The setup of the summit reflects just how tense ties between the two economic superpowers have become. First, Chinese President Xi Jinping snubbed von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa earlier this year by declining an invitation to come to Brussels. Then, the summit — originally planned to run for two days — was shortened to one day only.  Now, von der Leyen and Costa are expected to meet with Xi for a more general discussion on EU-China relations in the morning, according to an EU official. Leaders will discuss geopolitics over lunch, while a meeting with Premier Li Qiang will focus on economy and trade issues.  As at previous summits, there won’t be a joint statement. The Chinese foreign ministry only officially confirmed Xi’s attendance on Monday.  STUCK IN THE MIDDLE Earlier this year, von der Leyen had struck an unusually conciliatory tone toward Beijing, prompting cautious hopes for a diplomatic reset of the bloc’s relations with the Middle Kingdom. In a speech to EU ambassadors in February, she said the EU needed to “engage constructively with China,” adding that “we can find agreements that could even expand our trade and investment ties.” Chinese President Xi Jinping snubbed Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa earlier this year by declining an invitation to come to Brussels. | Pool photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/EPA That openness was welcomed by Beijing, which looked to build ties with Europe when Trump later hiked tariffs to 145 percent. When China hit back by imposing strict controls on exports of rare earths, Europe was caught in the crossfire. Although EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič negotiated faster permitting procedures, Beijing has refused to lift the controls for EU companies — which continue to sound the alarm about disruptions to critical industry supply chains.  “Why aren’t we in Europe getting any gallium, if the goal is to hit the U.S.?” asked Groothuis. Gallium is used in military applications and many other high-tech products. He said the Chinese authorities were subjecting EU companies that request permission to buy gallium and other materials to heavy questioning: “How much gallium goes in which product? Who is your customer? How much stock do you have? They are just mapping out where they can squeeze us in the future.” Groothuis, a member of Renew, has called in the Parliament for the EU to “do squeezing of its own” on market access, visas, migration issues and public procurement. If the bloc isn’t willing to make use of that leverage, he said, “it’s like someone is pissing in your boot and you’re like: ‘Ah, that’s nice and warm’.” LITTLE TO OFFER That’s unlikely to cut much ice with China’s supreme leader. “China has little incentive to offer anything beyond the usual low-effort, easy wins to the EU,” said Francesca Ghiretti, director of the China Europe Initiative at the RAND think tank. “Beijing believes it is in a position of strength, having secured a temporary truce with the U.S. more quickly and easily than anticipated, while the EU remains engaged in challenging negotiations.” Before heading to Beijing, von der Leyen and Costa will land in Tokyo for the official launch of an EU-Japan alliance that links the two economies’ industrial policy more closely in the face of Chinese overcapacity and U.S. tariffs — a signal that Brussels hopes Beijing won’t miss. Among the scant summit deliverables is a rumored order for Airbus passenger jets. With a lack of announcements on trade and security, the two sides had hoped to sign a joint communiqué on climate, but that’s unlikely to happen.  An EU official said they would consider the China summit a success “if our counterparts acknowledge and understand our concerns,” for instance around overproduction and fair competition globally. “Then it would be up to them to react.”

The European Parliament is considering revoking lobbying access for every interest group tied to Amazon, an internal note seen by POLITICO shows. That would be a major escalation in a standoff over working conditions in Amazon warehouses that already led Parliament to withdraw the entry badges of the firm’s lobbyists early last year. The internal document lays out options for the Parliament’s employment committee to respond to what lawmakers see as Amazon’s lack of accountability over its controversial labor practices — and repeated snubs. The options, discussed in a meeting Tuesday, include “recommending … an extension of the current European Parliament lobbying ban to include third-party lobbying firms representing Amazon’s interests, not just Amazon employees,” the note read. Such a step would considerably raise the stakes by threatening the access of lobbyists belonging to dozens of interest groups and organizations of which Amazon is a member or affiliated with in Brussels, including powerful tech lobby groups like DigitalEurope, CCIA Europe, ITI and others. Two Parliament officials, granted anonymity to disclose details from the closed-door meeting, said no formal decision had been taken yet. The internal document lays out options for the Parliament’s employment committee to respond to what lawmakers see as Amazon’s lack of accountability over its controversial labor practices — and repeated snubs. | Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images Despite the current restrictions, the Big Tech firm has still been able to meet with members of the European Parliament at those members’ invitation. The NGO Transparency International counted at least 64 meetings since the start of the new term last year. Lawmakers in the committee also weighed whether to “call on the European Commission to review public contracts awarded to Amazon,” though it acknowledged that “most, if not all, such contracts relate to web services and therefore fall outside the direct remit of the [employment] committee.” A further option floated at the meeting was organizing another public hearing with Amazon at the committee. In June, Parliament uninvited senior representatives from Amazon from a hearing about its warehouse working conditions after lawmakers felt the proposed speakers were too low-ranking to credibly answer for the company’s alleged misconduct. The hearing was meant to pave the way for a truce after the institution suffered a string of similar no-shows and was a chance for Amazon to win back its lobbying badges, according to internal communications seen by POLITICO. Amazon had offered to send Stefano Perego and Lucy Cronin, vice presidents for operations and EU public policy respectively, but lawmakers weren’t impressed. “We have welcomed representatives from Amazon to the hearing — provided that they represent a sufficiently high management level,” Li Andersson, the committee’s left-wing chair, told POLITICO at the time, ahead of the meeting. The accountability for Amazon’s reported controversial labor practices “lie[s] at the highest levels of Amazon’s management structure,” Andersson argued, citing resistance to unions and invasive surveillance practices. Amazon tried to avoid another public clash in the run-up to June’s meeting when it turned to Parliament President Roberta Metsola for help. They offered Metsola a meeting in Washington with one of Amazon’s coveted top executives, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO. In a statement to POLITICO, Sarah Tapp, a spokesperson for Amazon, said: “We hope the European Parliament will allow room for moderate voices and fact-based discussions, focused on the logistics industry more broadly and reflecting Amazon’s contributions to European economy and society.” She added that “Amazon continues to have access to the European Parliament, so repeated media coverage alleging otherwise is factually incorrect.” This article has been updated.

LONDON — The firm at the center of one of the biggest U.K. scandals in recent memory is bidding to keep running Great Britain’s border with Northern Ireland. Japanese tech firm Fujitsu has faced intense public scrutiny after faulty data from its Horizon software led to hundreds of innocent workers at the U.K.’s Post Office being wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting. Many are still awaiting compensation. It is now spearheading a bid by a group of firms, including a long-time ally of former Prime Minister Liz Truss, for the £370 million contract, five people with knowledge of the process confirmed to POLITICO. Fujitsu’s bid for the lucrative contract follows its pledge in 2024 — amid intense scrutiny of the Post Office scandal following a hit TV drama — not to bid for public sector deals unless requested by government or in cases where there is “an existing customer relationship.” Fujitsu is vying to retain control of the Trader Support Service, a software platform that helps businesses navigate complex post-Brexit customs arrangements for moving goods like chilled meat between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Before Britain left the EU in 2020, Fujitsu, Truss ally Shanker Singham’s firm Competere and others were awarded a two-year contract to create and run the TSS customs platform. Following several extensions up to the end of 2025, the total value of that contract has ballooned to more than £500 million for the firms. If Fujitsu’s bid is successful, the contract — expected to be awarded in the autumn — would see the firm continue to run the crucial border software for at least another five years, with the potential to extend it to seven. “We continue to work with the U.K. government to ensure we adhere to the voluntary restrictions we put in place regarding bidding for new contracts while the Post Office Inquiry is ongoing,” a Fujitsu spokesperson said. News of Fujitsu’s fresh bid for public sector work comes as Westminster digests the official Post Office inquiry’s first report, published Tuesday. The report highlighted the “disastrous” impact of the scandal on those wrongly accused and prosecuted for criminal offences. The report found that some employees of Fujitsu had advance knowledge that the system at the heart of the scandal — Horizon — was capable of producing false data about what was going on in Post Office branches. “Like its predecessor, Horizon Online was also, from time to time, afflicted by bugs, errors and defects which had the effect of showing gains and losses in branch and Crown Office accounts which were illusory. I am satisfied that a number of employees of Fujitsu and the Post Office knew that this was so,” the inquiry’s chair concluded in the report. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he welcomed the publication of the report and was “committed to ensuring wronged subpostmasters are given full, fair and prompt redress.” ‘DEEPLY TROUBLING MESSAGE’ MPs are already calling for the government to step in on future Fujitsu contracts. The firm’s commitment not to bid on public contracts “appears increasingly hollow,” Labour MP Kate Osborne, a former employee at Royal Mail, warned Reynolds Monday, in a letter shared with POLITICO. The firm has targeted £1.3 billion in U.K. government contracts in the past year alone, she said. “The continued award of lucrative government contracts to Fujitsu, while victims of their failures remain inadequately compensated, sends a deeply troubling message about our values as a government,” she added. “It suggests that corporate irresponsibility carries no meaningful consequences, and that public money can be earned even after causing immense harm to innocent citizens.” Fujitsu’s bid to continue the operation of the TSS raises “profound questions about accountability in public procurement and justice for Horizon victims” and sends a “deeply troubling message about our values as a government,” the MP continued. Osborne — whose constituent Chris Head is among the subpostmasters still waiting for compensation — urged the government to implement an immediate moratorium on awarding new contracts to Fujitsu until they have made a substantial financial contribution to victims. “So many lives have been ruined by the Post Office and Fujitsu,” she said. “Whilst nothing can ever compensate for how they have been treated, it is sickening that people like my constituent Chris Head have not received any compensation yet Fujitsu are raking in billions of pounds from government contracts.” Competere’s CEO, Singham, serves as “policy lead of the Trader Support Service Consortium,” according to the firm’s website. He is also chairman of the Growth Growth Commission, a free-market economic think tank founded by Truss in 2023. He served as an advisor to the Truss back in 2020. Singham castigated the current Labour government’s new Trade Strategy late last month as chairman of the Growth Commission. The strategy is “troubling,” he wrote, citing “negative impacts of aligning to the EU” in Sanitary and Phytosanitary regulation — a move that would reduce the need for checks at the border — because it could limit trade with the U.S. Singham’s current role in the TSS is “a tiny part of the overall contract,” he said, confirming Competere is part of a wider Fujitsu-led consortium bidding to keep running the service. The U.K. government has been approached for comment.