BUSINESS

Given the daunting nature of the challenges they face in the era of Donald Trump, it is perhaps understandable that European politicians should wish to get away from it all. This week, in what is being billed as a “leaders’ retreat”, a remote castle in the Belgian countryside has been selected for an EU summit … Read more

Donald Trump may have wanted revenge against Norway for the Nobel peace prize snub, but even he could hardly have imagined the damage contained in the latest US justice department’s release of three million emails from the Jeffrey Epstein files. A string of what appear to be embarrassing messages between a Norwegian princess and Epstein … Read more

Should you judge the quality of a film based on how many people have been to see it? It’s the type of argument you would expect to hear in the context of the “culture war”; but is it what you would expect to hear from French culture warriors? From a country that uses language quotas … Read more

I almost never wonder how I’d feel if I were a 29-year-old French woman. I fear the question would lead to dissatisfactions too profound (would I be eating oysters right now? Would my socks be cashmere? Would I know what existentialism meant – no, I mean really know?). This morning, however, I did stop and … Read more

Exports of British farm products to the EU have dropped almost 40% in the five years since Brexit, highlighting the trade barriers caused by the UK’s divorce from the EU in 2020. Analysis of HMRC data by the National Farmers’ Union shows the decline in sales of everything from British beef to cheddar cheese has … Read more

European governments are terrified of Donald Trump’s threats on trade, Greenland and the future of Nato. But the biggest threat is not that Trump invades an ally or leaves Europe at the mercy of Russia. It is that his ideological movement could transform Europe from the inside. A year after Trump’s return to the White … Read more

All around Europe, the political and business elite are facing an inquest on what blinded so many to think it was permissible to consort with a known child sex offender. As the 3m emails and 1,800 photos released on Friday by the US Department of Justice start to percolate across the continent and through to … Read more

Monday You almost find me on my way to Berlin. I’m not usually one for travel – I haven’t left the UK since 2017 and my passport has about 10 minutes left to run (it’s not patriotism, by the way, it’s sloth) – but exceptions must always be made in the case of a Kartoffel-Flut. … Read more

The Iberian peninsula has been placed under severe weather alerts as Storm Leonardo continues to batter parts of Spain and Portugal with torrential rain and strong winds. Since Tuesday, the slow-moving system has brought widespread disruption, flooding and evacuations. In Grazalema, in southern Spain, more than 700mm of rain has fallen since Wednesday, roughly equivalent … Read more