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Hello and welcome to EU Influence! I’m Mari Eccles, writing this week’s edition for the three remaining people still working in Brussels — enjoy.
On the menu this week:
— NGOs have accused the European Commission of hiring a fossil fuel-linked consultancy to help design its hydrogen bank auctions.
— EU countries, led by France, have blocked the Commission’s 2026 health work program in retaliation for its cuts to EU health NGO funding.
— Brussels’ new merger playbook asks what deals add — not just what competition they destroy. Consultancies are responding.
ON THE RECORD
“It’s Pope solidarity.” One EU diplomat’s take on the divine influence behind the Vatican’s Italy’s opposition to sanctions against Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill.
CONTRACT CONUNDRUM
HYDROGEN HEADACHE: A group of NGOs have complained to the European Commission’s energy unit about the awarding of a contract to Netherlands-based management consultancy Guidehouse, which they say could represent a conflict of interest.
The background: The criticism is connected to the so-called hydrogen bank, an initiative dating back to 2022 when Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised a hydrogen investment vehicle worth €3 billion to help guarantee the purchase of the energy source in Europe. Some campaigners have criticised the scheme as providing too many subsidies to hydrogen projects rather than prioritizing other more efficient ways to decarbonise.
Cause for concern: The NGOs, including Transparency International EU and the Corporate Europe Observatory, are questioning how the Commission went about organizing designing the rules of the subsidy scheme—including how companies would bid, how bids would be evaluated, what projects would qualify — and specifically if Guidehouse, which it hired to develop the process, was too close to the fossil fuel industry. That project ran from Oct. 2024 to July 2025.
The money: The NGOs tell us they don’t know the exact value of the contact, because of an exception which exempts the Commission from disclosing amounts if it is deemed to harm the commercial interests of the contractor.
Conflict of interest? The groups said that Guidehouse worked on the creation of lobby groups like Gas for Climate, which represents some of the EU’s biggest gas infrastructure groups, and the European Hydrogen Backbone. Guidehouse has also been hired by the Commission to work on hydrogen policy since at least as far back as 2020, winning at least 11 consulting contracts with DG Ener between 2020 and 2024, the FT reported. The U.S-headquarted company, that employs around 18,000 people globally, has European centers in Utrecht, Germany and London.
The complaint, seen by Influence, highlights one meeting in 2024 between the cabinet of the European Commissioner for Climate, Wopke Hoekstra, and Guidehouse, while the consultancy worked closely with H2eart for Europe, an alliance made up of storage operators and fossil fuel companies that is focused on securing and scaling underground hydrogen storage projects in the EU.
During this meeting, according to the official complaint, “insights related to public funding requirements (CEF-E [Connecting Europe Facility – Energy ] RRF [Recovery and Resilience Facility] budgets)” were discussed alongside “the financial consequences of deploying a European pipeline infrastructure for hydrogen transmission.”
In a nutshell: The complaint described this meeting as a “concrete illustration of a potential risk that may arise from Guidehouse’s double simultaneous employment: advising the Commission on the design of a funding instrument while representing industry clients with a direct financial interest in the deployment of hydrogen energy.”
Pushing back: A statement on behalf of Guidehouse said it “does not believe its work for the European Commission presents a conflict of interest.” The consultancy applies “robust, standardized controls to identify and appropriately manage actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest,” and that its work for the Commission is conducted “in accordance with established conflict-review procedures, internal controls, and all applicable contractual and procurement requirements,” it said.
Not compromised, just experienced: “Our experience across the energy sector enables us to provide clients with informed, data-driven analysis and advice,” the Guidehouse statement said.
In response: A spokesperson for the Commission said it is “not unusual” for the EU executive to work with external experts to ensure “the requisite expertise at technical, scientific or economic level” and said this was the case as part of the “expansion of EU green policies.” The spokesperson added: “All Commission contracts are awarded in full compliance with the EU Financial Regulation and applicable public procurement rules. These rules require strict conflict-of-interest checks at all stages of the procedure.”
The full list of complainants: Transparency International EU, The Good Lobby, Bankwatch, Corporate Europe Observatory, and Lobby Control.
FUMING OVER FUNDING
COMMISSION REBUFFED: The health NGOs that saw their funding slashed by the Commission last year have received some support from EU countries, after they blocked the EU executive’s broad 2026 health work program in protest at the cuts.
Boiling over: The move came after a buildup in tension between the Commission and countries, most notably France, health colleague Rory O’Neill writes in.
Reminder: Civil society in Brussels was rocked last summer when it was confirmed that Commission’s 2025 operating grant for nongovernmental organizations — i.e. the €9 million that keeps the lights on and staff paid — would be cut. It led to a flurry of NGO staff being handed their notice, as well as the closure of some organizations.
Back us: Health NGOs feel vindicated. “We hope this creates an opportunity to restore operating grants for health civil society and address the procedural concerns raised by member states. Europe needs a strong EU4Health program – and that requires an independent, well-supported civil society as a partner, not an afterthought,” said Milka Sokolović, Director General of the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA).
Chorus: Jean Saslawsky, chief executive officer of rare disease patient group Eurordis, said the non-profit was “deeply grateful to the member states that have stood up for health NGOs,” adding that public funding for civil society was a safeguard against “private interests.”
The Commission responds: A Commission spokesperson told POLITICO the EU executive “presented an ambitious EU4Health work program today to member states which supports our priorities for 2026 … We regret that member states were not able to support the work program in the program committee meeting today. We will now reflect on the most appropriate route forward.”
NEW IN TOWN
MERGERS WITH BENEFITS: The Commission’s new merger guidelines are designed to account for benefits of a deal in its assessment — marking a change from the traditional view that’s centered around mergers’ harm to competition.
Train your mind to see the good: And voilà: the market is responding. Economic consultants Frontier Economics have created a brand new Merger Benefits Unit that “helps clients develop clear, transaction-specific, evidence-based benefits cases that stand up to robust regulatory scrutiny.”
Track record: The firm has a growing track record in getting agencies to see the good in mergers — after they helped Vodafone and Three convince the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority give unprecedented clearance to their tie-up under the promise of future investments in networks, top competition colleague Francesca Micheletti writes in.
EU, INC.: A coalition of business groups and investors has launched EuropeanOwnership.eu, a new initiative pushing Brussels to make it easier for companies to stay in European hands. Backed by more than 300 entrepreneurs and investors representing €15 billion in assets, the group wants the EU’s proposed “28th regime” company law (more on that here) to include employee stock ownership plans and steward ownership models.
Keep it in house: The coalition argues that with around 450,000 European businesses changing hands each year, the lack of succession options is leaving firms vulnerable to takeovers by non-EU buyers, undermining the bloc’s economic sovereignty. The members include German business network Stiftung Verantwortungseigentum, the Sustainable Finance Lab, the Institute for Economic Democracy, EU-funded research project N-EXTLAW and We Are Stewards.
PRIVATE INTERESTS
TEDROS MULLS HIS OPTIONS: What next for the World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus after he leaves office next year? Maybe the private sector, he quipped at a reception for Pandemic Agreement negotiators last Thursday in Geneva, four people present told Rory O’Neill. We are assured the line got a decent number of laughs. The DG, who will wrap up his second term in Sep. 2027, noted he had worked in government for 30 years and in the United Nations for 10 and that it might be time to try something new. “People tell me that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I disagree,” he said.
POLICY SHOP
CRYING WOLF? The Commission is betting that profit-hungry gas and oil companies will continue exporting into Europe next year, resisting calls by companies to rewrite new climate laws that they say will force them to seek other markets.
Not convinced: Fossil fuel companies and member countries say new EU rules requiring them to track emissions of methane — a potent greenhouse gas — beginning in 2027 will be impossible to comply with in time, diverting vast chunks of the EU’s supply as exporters strain to avoid legal risk. But the EU executive doesn’t buy their rhetoric, and has resisted calls to reopen the legislation, which could give member countries and lawmakers an opportunity to radically weaken the law designed to mitigate one of the top causes of global warming.
Ben Munster has more here.
FLYING OFF: Ryanair successfully managed to lobby the Belgian government to soften initial plans to increase a passenger tax on flights of more than 500 kilometers from to €10. Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said the €7 passenger tax had been offered in response to Ryanair’s pressure. But the low-cost carrier still isn’t happy with the increase from €5, and is pulling five planes from its base at Brussels South Charleroi Airport, it announced Wednesday.
QUICK HITS
- The European Union’s plan to rid its telecoms network of potentially risky suppliers like Huawei will cost up to four times as much as the bloc’s official estimate, a leading industry body said Wednesday.
- Jordan Bardella, president of France’s far-right National Rally, will speak at Reform UK’s conference in Birmingham this September, the party has confirmed.
INFLUENCERS
CONSULTANCIES
From Aug. 10, Jeremy Bossu will join SEC Newgate EU as Head of Media Relations. Meanwhile, Philip Herd will transition into a senior adviser role.
Carolina Cruz has been promoted to consultant at CLERENS.
MEDIA
Masha Borak has joined MLex as their chief AI correspondent in Brussels, covering AI regulation in the EU.
COMMUNICATIONS
Alec Vida has started at Moylan Communications as a project assistant.
INSTITUTIONS
Commission foreign affairs spokesperson Anitta Hipper will be stepping back from the podium and moving to a policy role in the cabinet of Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.
The European Commission has appointed Tomas Anker Christensen as principal adviser, EU special coordinator for the global clean transition within its Directorate-General for Energy.
As of Aug. 15, Lelde Līce-Līcīte will leave her position as Latvia’s Permanent Representative to the EU and return to Riga. She will be succeeded by Reinis Brusbārdis who has served as Latvia’s COREPER I Ambassador for the past year.
Marko Makovec has been appointed as principal adviser for reconciliation and normalization of the Western Balkans within its Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighborhood.
Thanks to Rory O’Neill, Francesca Micheletti, Zoya Sheftalovich, Sebastian Starcevic, Gabriel Gavin, and producer Júlia Vadler!
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