Europe

It is a standard feature of modern politics that government announcements are preceded by announcements of announcements. The ground must always be prepared. Accordingly, the media has been briefed that this week the United Kingdom and Germany will sign a defence cooperation agreement, part of the government’s stated desire to strengthen its relationship on security with the European Union. We should not expect a revolution so much as an eager scattering of glitter on what is actually relatively humdrum. John Healey, the defence secretary, visited Berlin in July and agreed a joint declaration on defence with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius. While it was breathlessly billed as ‘the first step

When the 27 leaders of the European Union met in Brussels this week, the migrant crisis was high on the agenda. In her opening remarks at the summit, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen drew attention to the deals agreed in the last 12 months between the bloc and countries such as Tunisia and Egypt. ‘These partnerships are working,’ said von der Leyen. ‘If you look at the Central Mediterranean Route, which we have been working on intensively, overall the arrivals are now down by minus 64 per cent.’ Macron has been a formidable obstacle to tackling Europe’s migrant crisis The woman who deserves the credit for this dramatic

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to ‘reset’ the United Kingdom’s relations with the European Union. But at what cost? The EU has reportedly set out part of the price the UK might have to pay to be allowed back into its good books: Brussels wants Britain to contribute to the EU’s defence missions. Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to Luxembourg this week to a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council to address the issue of security – an important element of Starmer’s intended ‘reset’. In Monday’s meeting, the EU reportedly pressed the Foreign Secretary for UK participation in its peacekeeping and conflict prevention missions, of which there are currently

Emmanuel Macron is said to be appalled by his new right-wing government. A confidant of the French president conveyed to AFP the depth of his despair. ‘I did not choose this government,’ Macron reportedly told his inner circle. ‘They make me feel ashamed.’ Macron’s approval rating has fallen to its lowest level of his second term There’s little doubt who Macron had in mind when he made his cri du coeur: Bruno Retailleau, the interior minister, a conservative Catholic, who has vowed to crackdown on immigration. Macron hit back at Retailleau last week during a radio interview on France Inter, pointing out that immigration is ‘our wealth, a strength’. He gave a

The flawless launch of SpaceX’s 5,000-ton Starship and its Super Heavy Booster, and the precision recovery of the booster on its launch pad, has opened the way to a manned mission to the moon next year and perhaps to Mars as soon as 2030. One giant leap for Elon Musk’s company on Sunday was one more reminder that Europe’s space programme is a colossal failure. Elon’s Musk’s dream has become Europe’s nightmare Europe is currently unable to launch even its own weather satellites, and India, which managed a soft landing on the Moon last year, now has a more credible space program. Twenty years ago, before SpaceX had launched a

‘Now it’s official,’ the German press lamented, ‘the idiot’s apostrophe is correct.’ The Council for German Orthography, the body that regulates German spelling and grammar, has relaxed the rules on when and how apostrophes can be used to show possession. What seems like a matter for grammar pedants has fuelled angst for the very future of the German language. The issue itself isn’t new. Unlike English, German doesn’t traditionally use apostrophes to show possession. So Uncle Tom’s Cabin, for example, becomes Onkel Toms Hütte in the German translation. But this rule has long been eroded. It’s common to find places like ‘Tina’s Wolllädchen’ – ‘Tina’s Little Wool Shop’ – which

After the binge, the bill? The new French government of Michel Barnier presented the main lines of its proposed 2025 budget on Thursday evening, promising to cut public spending by £50 billion while raising taxes across the board. It’s belated austerity for a state with a fiscal policy that has previously resembled dine and dash.  The intention is to reduce the deficit to 5 per cent of GDP next year, before trying to go below 3 per cent in 2029. Meanwhile, France’s debt of 3.3 trillion Euros will increase.   This is a punishment beating for the most successful and productive companies and individuals in France Like one of those

Emmanuel Macron has chosen to mark the first anniversary of Hamas’ murderous attack on Israel on 7 October by criticising their response. In a radio interview, the president of France announced that ‘the priority today is to return to a political solution, to stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza’. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called the remarks shameful and said it was a ‘disgrace’ to call for an arms embargo on Israel. 1,600 French Jews have emigrated from France to Israel in the last year The distinguished French Jewish writer and philosopher, Bernard-Henri Levy, said on Sunday that he was ‘saddened and shocked’ by his president’s comments, particularly given

Germany has voted to oppose a proposal by the European Commission to introduce additional tariffs on electric cars imported from China. This was no surprise: in the days leading up to today’s meeting, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and other government officials in Berlin had made clear that they had instructed the country’s representative not to vote in favour of such tariffs, widely described as ‘punitive’. Alongside Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Malta and Slovenia voted against the introduction of the tariffs. A majority of states representing at least 65 per cent of the population in the EU – or 14 of the bloc’s members states – would have been needed to stop