MIDDAY BRIEF, IN BRIEF

Today at Commission, Paris attack and Soros

Juncker writing to Hollande about Thursday night shooting.

The European Commission on Friday condemned the attack in Paris in which one police officer was killed and two wounded.

At the daily press briefing, spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was writing to French President François Hollande about the attack.

Juncker and his Commission team condemned “the abject attack which targeted French police forces yesterday night as they were fulfilling their duties to protect citizens on the Champs-Élysées. Our thoughts are with the families and relatives of the victims and we express our solidarity with President Hollande, the French government and the people of France,” Andreeva said.

She added that “Europe is determined to continue the fight against terrorism.”

Staying with France, Andreeva said the Commission did not have a plan in place if Marine Le Pen of the National Front wins the French presidential election, the first round of which will be held Sunday.

She also reiterated Juncker’s thoughts on the French election given in an interview to Bild am Sonntag in March. The Commission chief said he believed Le Pen would not win “and even if she did, it would not be the end of the European project. But it would certainly rock the boat. So I hope that pro-European forces will win in France.”

Soros in Brussels

There’s a busy week coming, culminating in a Brexit summit on April 29. Before then, expect lots more talk about the situation in Hungary.

On Thursday Juncker will meet George Soros, the philanthropist and backer of Central European University, which has been targeted by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. A Commission source told POLITICO the meeting was requested by Soros.

The full agenda for all the commissioners next week is here.