When I first moved to Italy in 2012, I had no idea that more than a decade later I’d still be here. Back then, being British I had the luxury of EU citizenship, and thus of not overthinking things. I was excited by the prospect of spending time in a country that I’d always been … Read more
Germany’s new conservative leader, Friedrich Merz, is due in Washington on Thursday for his first official meeting with Donald Trump, putting political Berlin on tenterhooks like no other transatlantic encounter in living memory. Discussions between the German chancellor and the US president will focus on Ukraine, the Middle East and trade policies. How well or … Read more
It is a gamble that Geert Wilders may live to regret. Increasingly frustrated by his coalition partners’ unwillingness to embrace his promised “strictest asylum policy in Europe”, the Dutch far-right leader brought down the government. Wilders’ calculation, if it is more than a fit of political pique, appears simple: if he can turn this autumn’s … Read more
In Denmark, we like to think of ourselves as being in the vanguard of freedom of expression. We were the first country in the world to legalise pornography. We insisted on the right to publish caricatures of the prophet Muhammad. Rather than marginalise so-called rightwing populists in parliament, we invited them in to political cooperation. … Read more
Europe’s latest presidential election appears to have delivered not a statesman but a slogan – “Poland first” – and with it, a rebuke to the centrist prime minister, Donald Tusk. Poland’s new head of state will be Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian endorsed by Donald Trump. Mr Nawrocki’s improbable rise – from relative obscurity to … Read more
Polish voters returned to the polls on Sunday for the decisive round of a presidential election whose outcome reverberates far beyond Poland’s borders. The race was a showdown between two candidates who represent the country’s stark political and ideological divide: Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian backed by the far-right opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), … Read more
The victory margin of the nationalist Karol Nawrocki in Poland’s presidential elections may have been wafer-thin, but it marks a huge upheaval in the country’s political landscape whose impact will be felt not just in Warsaw but across the EU. Backed by the previous ruling conservative Law & Justice (PiS) party and, openly, by Donald … Read more
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