Cooper — a veteran Labour politician who also served as a minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown — penned an extensive Chatham House essay on Monday giving her thesis of the global challenges facing Britain. She highlighted the “threats on the international stage,” and said Britain needs “not just to weather the storm but steer […]
Continue Reading“I think there’s a recognition he and his team will focus on domestic politics first,” said one U.S. official, granted anonymity like others in this piece to speak candidly. “It doesn’t feel like a ‘I must jet across to D.C. immediately’ tactic is imminent.” Senior observers — including Starmer himself — have warned that Burnham’s […]
Continue ReadingBardella has hardly left Le Pen’s side since an appeals court on Tuesday upheld her guilty verdict for embezzling European Parliament funds and sentenced her to a year of house arrest — but, in a twist, shaved enough time off a lower court’s electoral ban that she’ll be able to run for president in 2027. […]
Continue ReadingIn 2021, media investigations alleged that Moroccan authorities had used Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to target phones belonging to Macron and other French officials. Ties remained frosty after a devastating earthquake struck Morocco in 2023, when Rabat declined France’s offer of aid. Macron’s Western Sahara gambit in 2024, which aligned France with Spain, the U.S. and […]
Continue ReadingBurnham has campaigned on a “change” platform, and in the aftermath of the release of documents relating to former Labour peer Mandelson’s appointment as U.K. ambassador to the U.S. said: “People have lost faith in a Westminster system which puts private vested interests above the wider public interest and concentrates too much power in too […]
Continue ReadingBRUSSELS — Top European leaders attending a NATO summit in Ankara were given engraved pistols and live ammunition as a leaving gift. The elaborate firearms — and accompanying bullets and cleaning kit — were presented to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa on Wednesday by the host, Turkish President Recep […]
Continue ReadingThe French president’s defense legacy — defined by a pivot to Europe — is marked by a boost in defense spending and the very early stages of including European countries in France’s nuclear deterrent. But as his tenure ends, two forces of budget limits and the far-right are casting a shadow. While centrist candidates looking […]
Continue ReadingThe export ban followed several days of Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure. The timing is not great for Europe. Diesel markets have remained tight since March due to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz amid the war in Iran. Russia is the world’s second-largest diesel exporter, and while the EU no longer imports Russian […]
Continue ReadingTo win them over, Spain has proposed compensating the additional costs that they would incur from EU joint debt via a new financial mechanism, called the European Sovereign Facility (ESF), which would allow the Commission to issue debt on behalf of EU countries and channel the funds via loans. The paper argues that significantly higher […]
Continue ReadingThe European Union is in disagreement over whether the Commission should allow Serbia to progress in its membership process. The issue will come to a head at a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels today. While the Commission argues that dangling accession in front of prospective members is a useful geopolitical tool that can prevent […]
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