The dire favorability scores reflect dissatisfaction with a government increasingly defined by missteps and internal strain. Merz’s hardline turn on migration — including this week’s proposal that up to 80 percent of Syrian refugees leave Germany — has triggered backlash from his own coalition. His efforts to strike deals with the Taliban to deport migrants […]
Continue ReadingDespite the war in Iran and its economic consequences preoccupying ministers, much work is going on behind closed doors in Whitehall to strike a closer relationship with Brussels. Nearly a decade after Britain voted to leave the EU, Keir Starmer has tasked his ministers with negotiating a post-Brexit reset that aims for closer alignment with […]
Continue ReadingChallenged on the view that European capitals have been less enthusiastic than Britain at the prospect of a post-Brexit rapprochement with the EU, Thomas-Symonds insisted the timetable and ambitions remained firm. “The bill will introduce the mechanism of alignment — and I would expect that to be completed by the end of 2026 and to […]
Continue ReadingOn Ukraine, he hasn’t framed Kyiv as an enemy — but has studiously avoided any positive appraisals, knowing they would play badly at the ballot box. That’s because anti-Ukrainian sentiment is deeply rooted in Hungary. According to an autumn 2025 poll by the Policy Solutions think tank, half of Hungarians consider Ukraine dangerous for Hungary, […]
Continue ReadingBut, he added, “it is clear that once the civil war ended, the time for return has come and the grounds for protection cease to apply.” He declined to provide specific numbers. Approximately 1.23 million people of Syrian origin were registered in Germany at the end of 2024. Of those, 246,320 had acquired German citizenship, […]
Continue ReadingPresident Donald Trump on Wednesday said the U.S. is getting “very close” to finishing its objectives in Iran but warned that the next two weeks will involve intense military activity. “We are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly,” the president said in his first primetime address since the war […]
Continue ReadingFrench Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot met with his Bahraini counterpart as well as other senior Gulf region officials on March 25 to “share observations” which aim to “maximize the likelihood of the text’s adoption and subsequent implementation,” one of the diplomats said. French President Emmanuel Macron last month called for the U.N. to help unblock […]
Continue ReadingThe incident was “contained,” the Commission said. But the early stages of its investigation suggest some data may have been taken from those websites, it added. Its own internal systems were not affected, it said. It did not say who was responsible for the attack. European governments and companies are increasingly under attack from hacking […]
Continue ReadingNordic table talk In Helsinki last week, 10 European leaders met for a private dinner without their officials and aides in the intimate surroundings of the Mannerheim Museum, the home of Finland’s World War II leader Gustaf Mannerheim. Amid the 1940s interiors, decorated with the former president’s hunting trophies, the leaders of countries including the […]
Continue ReadingIn his view, NATO allies would then be open at least to discussing the request, like Estonia. “But that doesn’t mean that we are jumping into the unclarity or jumping into something we don’t know what it is,” he clarified. The defense minister strongly disputed Trump’s characterization of NATO allies as abandoning the United States […]
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