Europe politics

Europe politics

It is a decision that I regret, French agriculture minister Annie Genevard told reporters at the Salon de l'Agriculture following EU chief Ursula von der Leyen's announcement. It is not in line with the respect that should have been shown for the European Parliament's decision. She denounced the provisional application as very damaging to the functioning of our institutions and, above all, to the spirit of our European institutions.

We want to achieve stability and predictability in trade relations. A united stance within the European Union is important in this regard. Businesses need planning security, and that applies on both sides of the Atlantic. We therefore expect clarity from the US government on the next steps.

Effectively, Ukraine is portrayed as a main enemy, said Zsuzsanna Vegh, an analyst at the German Marshall Fund. This is not just about Ukraine per se, but it fits into the standard strategy of the governing party, of mobilising its electorate through generating fear in society.

A horse does not make the most of its strength alone, but by pulling the cart together with others. Only when we in Germany and Europe are united, strong and competitive can we build a balanced partnership with China. We want our partnership with China to be balanced, reliable, regulated and fair.

We have very specific concerns regarding our cooperation, which we want to improve and make fair, said Merz, in an acknowledgement of the strain faced by Germany's manufacturing sector from Chinese competition.

Friedrich Merz said he saw a "great opportunity" for the industrial exporters, while Xi Jinping called for "enhanced strategic cooperation." China has been courting Western leaders amid Trump's trade tensions. It's Merz's first trip to China since he became chancellor, his predecessor Olaf Scholz visited in 2024.

France cannot accept any form of interference or manipulation of its national public debate by the authorities of a third country. The ambassador took note, expressed his willingness not to interfere in our public debate, and recalled the friendship that binds France and the United States.

Photographs of Tejero wearing the tricorn patent leather hat of the Guardia Civil and brandishing a pistol at MPs on 23 February 1981 are among the most indelible images of Spain's young democracy.

In a country deeply conscious of its own history, the party, now riding high in the polls, has to decide whether it rejects or embraces Hitler as an ideological antecedent. Rather than answering definitively, the party is deliberately opaque. It flirts with the Nazi legacy without explicitly committing to it. Far from putting voters off, this strategic ambiguity cultivates a surprisingly powerful mix of outrage and plausible deniability.

A spokesperson for Downing Street said: The UK government is working with the US to understand how the overturning of Donald Trump's tariffs by the supreme court will affect the UK but expects our privileged trading position with the US to continue. The UK was the first to strike a tariff deal with the US, with 10% tariffs on all imports from Britain, compared with a blanket 15% rate for the EU.

Meeting in campaign mode In Germany's political system, federal party conferences are key events for any party, serving as an opportunity for self-reassurance, attack or consolation. Even the choice of venue holds meaning: a show of campaigning and confidence. Elections are being held in host state Baden-Wurttemberg two weeks after the party conference. Before the end of September, four more of Germany's 16 states are set to hold elections. In two of the five states Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt the CDU holds the office of state premier.

They can no longer use e-commerce, book hotels online or hire a car. Their home smart devices ignore them. Credit cards from European banks no longer function, because Europe has still not developed its own EU-wide payments system, so most electronic purchases go through Visa and Mastercard. Converting euros to foreign currencies is extraordinarily difficult because everything passes through dollars. Living in Europe is no protection against Donald Trump bricking your digital life.

as the EU's climate advisory board urges countries to prepare for a catastrophic 3C of global heating. Maarten van Aalst, a member of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC), said the continent was already paying a price for its lack of preparation but that adapting to a hotter future was in part common-sense and low-hanging fruit. It is a daunting task, but at the same time

Australia and the EU are on the brink of striking a long sought after free trade agreement, with both sides talking up significant progress during talks in Brussels overnight. Ahead of a planned visit to Australia by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, due within months, a joint statement issued after the latest talks attended by the trade minister, Don Farrell, signalled major progress. The two sides said they had been able to converge on key differences which have dogged the deal for years.

while we are prepared, if necessary, to do this alone, it is our preference and it is our hope to do this together with you, our friends here in Europe.

Keir Starmer said there was an urgent need for a closer UK defence relationship with Europe, covering procurement and manufacturing, so that the UK is at the centre of a stronger European defence setup. In a rare visit to the Munich Security Conference, the British prime minister told the audience, to applause, we are 10 years on from Brexit. We are not the Britain of the Brexit years.

Solvinity provides the platform on which DigiD, MijnOverheid, and secure communications for Justice and Security run. The CDA spoke of "critical infrastructure for the Netherlands" that must remain in Dutch or European hands. D66 member Sarah El Boujdaini also opposed the sale: "Digital resilience is national security." The concern extends beyond this acquisition alone. Experts had previously demanded transparency about the deal. Municipalities that chose Solvinity because of national control, including Amsterdam, also felt blindsided.

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 on competitiveness. The pastoral setting may soothe the spirits of attending heads of state; but it belies the urgency of the debate they need to have.

We may be, in the course of 2026, coming to a point where the whole thing becomes unsustainable, because so much of the Russian economy has been distorted so much by the building up of the war economy at the expense of the civil economy. I think defying the laws of economic gravity can only go on for so long.

You don't need a degree in political science to understand why so many supposedly centrist European leaders have begun talking about immigration in terms that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago. Far-right parties across the continent have fuelled their rise by seizing on the issue as a political cosh with which to beat their more mainstream and established rivals, whom they accuse of complacency, inaction and a failure to defend borders.

The European Commission would be open-minded to discussing closer trade ties with the UK, including a customs union, a senior EU official has said. The EU economy commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, told the BBC that the European bloc was ready to engage with an open mind when asked about a customs union.

For the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, the EU's trade pact with India was the mother of all deals. Seen from the other end of the telescope, it looked like the mouse of all deals, with just 4bn (3.5bn) in tariff reductions a rounding error in a 180bn trading relationship. But that misses the point: this is about economic heavyweights resetting the terms of their cooperation because of Donald Trump's use of tariffs as a tool of economic and political compulsion.

The Common European Asylum System (CEAS) is the European Union's legal framework to create uniform, fair, and efficient standards for processing asylum applications. The system's reform, agreed in 2024, will become legally binding in Germany and throughout the EU in June, 2026. EU member states had a two-year implementation period during which the new rules including stricter border procedures were transposed into national law.

Technically, we will be ready in 2027, Zelenskyy told reporters, Reuters reported, adding that by the end of 2026 Ukraine will have implemented the main steps required for membership. I think the European Commission may have a slightly more nuanced view on that, given its last year's progress report pointing to some level of preparation in many areas, with only limited progress on some of the key issues, such as fight against corruption, or insufficient capacity in some areas looked at by the EU.

As part of a bill to strengthen rights for passengers, MEPs have swung behind proposals to allow passengers to take one personal item, such as a handbag, backpack or laptop, as well as a piece of hand luggage weighing up to 7kg (15lbs) and with combined dimensions of 100cm (39in). The case alone would be bigger than the current maximum permitted free cabin item on Ryanair and others.

Repression cannot go unanswered, said Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, on Thursday. The paramilitary organisation has played a significant role in suppressing demonstrations in Iran. Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise, she wrote on X. Hannah Neumann, chair of the European parliament's delegation for relations with Iran, said the IRGC listing was a long-overdue political signal that massive violence and transnational repression will no longer go unanswered.

Jakub Krupa Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the negotiations with the US over a security guarantees agreement were 100% done and the deal was just waiting to be signed, as Russia has praised the trilateral talks with Ukraine and the US over the weekend as held in constructive spirit. It would be a mistake to expect any significant results from the initial contacts But the very fact that these contacts have begun in a constructive spirit can be viewed positively.

In an incisive analysis of the new age of predatory great powers, where might is increasingly asserted as right, Carney not only accurately defined the coarsening of international relations as a rupture, not a transition. He also outlined how liberal democratic middle powers such as Canada but also European countries must build coalitions to counter coercion and defend as much as possible of the principles of territorial integrity, the rule of law, free trade, climate action and human rights.

In part due to the war in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions on Russian pipeline gas, European countries have become dependent on shipments of US liquified natural gas (LNG), according to a paper co-authored by the Clingendael Institute, in The Hague, the Ecologic Institute, in Berlin, and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. The development is fraught with risk at a time when Trump has shifted towards a more explicitly interest-driven, protectionist and ideologically charged approach, the paper says.