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After many months of inaction and complicity in the face of Israel’s destruction of Gaza, Europe is finally beginning to stir. Tens of thousands of people killed and attacks on schools and hospitals had apparently not been enough. But, along with the blocking of humanitarian aid and open calls for ethnic cleansing, Israel’s actions finally … Read more
British citizens who travel frequently to the EU face having their fingerprints individually checked each time they cross the border into the Schengen area because of delays in developing an app to verify biometrics digitally, it has emerged. It will be “business as usual” this summer but “a big change” in travel will be phased … Read more
Ukraine needs more than long-range missiles and fibre-optic drones in its fight with Russia. What it needs is more money, and lots of it. In particular, the war-torn nation should be handed the €300bn (£250bn) of frozen Russian assets stored mostly in accounts hosted by the Euroclear trading system. The Belgian government could confiscate the … Read more
A French court has ordered electoral officials to restore a British woman’s pre-Brexit right to vote in European elections, triggering calls for a renewed push for a bilateral treaty on electoral enfranchisement in each other’s countries. Alice Bouilliez, a former British civil servant who has lived in France for 38 years, said she was “extremely … Read more
Andrew Bailey has urged the UK government to deepen ties with the EU, as he warned a breakdown in global trade would make it harder for the Bank of England to control inflation. In a speech in Dublin on Thursday, the Bank’s governor said a stronger relationship between London and Brussels could “minimise negative effects” … Read more
Within days of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Olaf Scholz announced a Zeitenwende, or historical “turning point”. The then German chancellor promised a security transformation by increasing defence spending, sending more aid to Ukraine, taking a tougher approach to authoritarian states and rapidly reducing Germany’s dependence on Russian energy. It was … Read more
Record-breaking heat has been sweeping southern and central Spain, Portugal and southern parts of France this week, with some areas soaring to the mid- to high 30s celsius. On Wednesday, Amareleja in Portugal climbed to 39.5C (103.1F) – the joint-highest May temperature recorded. El Granado in Spain, hit 39.1C, while Canet-en-Roussillon in France peaked at … Read more
European consciences have started waking up to the Israeli government’s crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories – and it is about time. What has caused this long and slow awakening? Is it Israel’s killing of more than 54,000 Palestinians since Hamas’s horrific attack on 7 October 2023? Thousands of babies at risk of dying from … Read more
Poland’s presidential election runoff could have far-reaching implications for its place in Europe – either cementing the country’s hard-won seat at the EU’s top table, or heralding a return to altogether trickier times. The mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, faces off against the historian Karol Nawrocki on Sunday in a neck-and-neck race, pitting a liberal … Read more
As a former football pundit, columnist, seminarian and novelist, André Ventura is not a man given to understatement. But as the final results of Portugal’s snap general election confirmed that his far-right Chega party had leapfrogged the socialists to become the second biggest party in parliament, his words may have been spot on. “Nothing will … Read more