Europe

The events of the last few days – the Trump/Putin summit in Anchorage, the visit of European leaders to the White House and the virtual conference of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ – have felt strangely detached and surreal. It has been almost like the anxiety dream of a stressed European diplomat: full of famous faces and sententious words, none of it making much sense. Even summing up the status quo is a challenge. Thanks to President Trump, we know that the idea of a ceasefire in Ukraine is now off the table and branded unnecessary. He has also said that the country will not be admitted to Nato, while

In the early 1990s, an underground organisation was launched called the Barbie Liberation Movement (BLM). Its mission statement was a ‘commitment to challenging malign systems’, by which it meant the patriarchy. The BLM was inspired by a talking Barbie doll, launched in 1992, who had 270 platitudes, one of which was ‘math class is tough’. Outraged feminist groups forced Mattel Inc, the makers of Barbie, to remove what they described as a sexist slur. Now, though, may be the hour for the Barbie Liberation Movement to reform and once more fight the patriarchy. This time, however, the patriarchy is different. It no longer consists of ageing white men with their

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Berlin this morning, where at 3pm local time he will speak to Donald Trump and his vice president J.D. Vance over video alongside other European leaders to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine. The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz brokered the meeting following the news that the American president would be meeting Vladimir Putin in Alaska this coming Friday to discuss a peace deal – without Zelensky present. Ahead of Zelensky’s summit with Trump and Vance, the Ukrainian president and Merz will first convene a virtual meeting with his strongest European allies. Scheduled for 2pm Berlin time, they will be joined by British

Today the much-vaunted ‘one in, one out’ agreement over returning small boat migrants to France officially comes into effect. Keir Starmer, as you might expect, has announced with an air of quiet satisfaction that repatriation can now start in earnest and implied that the Channel-sized hole in Britain’s borders is well on the way to being stopped up.  If only. Well before any removal flight disappears into the clouds covering the UK, the government’s plan to make us cast aside our worries about immigration is fast unravelling. Even the embattled Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, desperate to cast herself as a migration tough girl for the benefit of the white van

So far this year France has deported 64 individuals from its database of radical Islamists. More are planned in the coming weeks and months, putting the minister of the interior, Bruno Retailleau, on course to surpass last year’s total of 142. A senior unnamed prefect was quoted in yesterday’s Le Figaro declaring: We are very committed to this issue; it is an ongoing effort by the state, given what is at stake. It is even monitored weekly by the (interior) minister at the central level. Retailleau is supported by his predecessor, Gérald Darmanin, who has been the Minister of Justice since last December. It was Darmanin who last year commissioned

When Donald Trump won a second term in the White House last November the response in Europe was one of barely disguised horror. ‘The European Union must stand close together and act in a united manner,’ declared Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The French are demoralised and angrier than ever with their ruling elite Emmanuel Macron posted a message on X: ‘The question we, as Europeans, must ask ourselves is, are we ready to defend the interests of Europeans?’ The president of France got his answer on Sunday evening. No. The trade deal agreed between Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission president, and Donald Trump has not gone down well

Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will recognise Palestinian statehood. The French president will make his historic proclamation, the first among G7 countries, at the UN General Assembly in September. In a statement on X, Macron said that ‘there is no alternative’, adding that ‘the French people want peace in the Middle East’. The rhetoric is inflammatory, and honest, but it’s not what Emmanuel Macron wants to hear Many French people, however, do not want their country to recognise Palestine in the manner Macron intends. A poll last month found that only 22 per cent were in favour of immediate and unconditional recognition; 31 per cent were opposed and 47

When France played Algeria in their national stadium, the Stade de France, in 2001, the French player Thierry Henry said afterwards he felt – disturbingly – as if he were playing away. The game had to be abandoned after dozens of Algerian fans, furious at being 4-1 down, invaded the pitch.  Bruno Retailleau, the interior minister of France since September last year and a key figure in the small boats crisis, has been known to cite Henry’s comment. Retailleau is carving out a distinct role for himself in government as the tribune of the growing number of his compatriots who share the same sense that they, too, are ‘playing away’.

This morning’s paper on leaving the ECHR from Suella Braverman and the Prosperity Institute doesn’t say much that hasn’t been said somewhere before. It reiterates the fairly obvious political case for a UK ECHR exit. It talks about the erosion of sovereignty over immigration, policing and vast swathes of social policy; the baneful ‘living instrument’ doctrine that means we have now effectively given a blank cheque to a self-selecting and unaccountable bench to second-guess our democratic process in ever more intrusive ways; the Strasbourg court’s arrogation of powers, such as the right to order interim measures never contemplated in 1950; and so on. The paper then goes in detail through

Yesterday the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited London for the first time since he took office in May. He and the prime minister have met on a number of occasions, and although the two lawyers are different characters – Sir Keir Starmer, the stiff, soi disant progressive human rights barrister; Merz, the abrasive, hard-nosed corporate counsel – they have forged a functional relationship. But this was Merz on Starmer’s home ground. The government has put a great deal of effort into bespoke bilateral relationships. Defence secretary John Healey and the German defence minister Boris Pistorius signed the Trinity House Agreement last October, and there have also been various kinds of

Friedrich Merz has managed something truly remarkable: he’s simultaneously the most internationally successful German chancellor in decades and quite possibly the most domestically incompetent. While foreign leaders sing his praises and credit him with everything from Ukraine’s weapons supply to Nato’s renewed backbone, German conservatives are discovering they’ve elected a man who can charm Trump but can’t outwit a Social Democratic Party that barely scraped 16 per cent of the vote. The damage extends far beyond one failed nomination The man who promised to clean up the catastrophic legacies of both his predecessors, Scholz and Merkel, has indeed delivered on the international front. In London today, Merz will sign the

The Prime Minister of France announced his plan on Tuesday to balance the country’s books: his most eye-catching intention is to scrap two public holidays. In addressing the nation, Francois Bayrou warned that France’s out-of-control public spending has left the country in ‘mortal danger’. It was imperative to reduce the public deficit by 43.8 billion euros by 2026, explained Bayrou. ‘It’s the last stop before the cliff, before we are crushed by the debt. It’s late, but there is still time.’ The holidays Bayrou wants to jettison are Easter Monday and 8 May (VE Day), two of the eleven annual public holidays in France. Britain has eight. Bayrou has taken