John Keiger

Brexit’s critics are strangely quiet about the European parliament scandal

14 December 2022 3:08 am

The corruption scandal embroiling the European parliament and the European Union’s institutions at the highest level is shaping up to…

Macron’s humiliating climbdown over Aukus

20 November 2022 7:00 pm

Guess who turned up in Bangkok this week at the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting? The forum, which includes the…

France and Britain are brothers in despair

3 October 2022 9:54 pm

Since Brexit, Britain and France appear to have drifted apart. Leaders from both countries have engaged in an on-off war of words. But despite…

France loved the Queen

11 September 2022 5:11 pm

The tribute paid by France to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has been heartfelt, fulsome and moving. French media across…

The French buy-out that explains Macron’s strategy

31 July 2022 4:00 pm

It’s a platitude that France and Britain are rivals and have been for centuries. But, since the 1904 Entente Cordiale,…

Boris and Macron's 'bromance' is rooted in despair

29 June 2022 4:00 pm

Is ‘Le Bromance’ really back on? Boris Johnson suggested as much at the G7 summit in Bavaria this week, where he…

Emmanuel Macron's future looks bleak

21 June 2022 10:00 pm

The single headline across the front page of the centre-left daily Libération said it all: ‘La Gifle’. But much more…

Why is Macron so desperate to bring Russia in from the cold?

18 June 2022 1:55 am

Emmanuel Macron should get a new historical advisor. He continues to repeat – this time at his Kyiv press conference on…

France could plunge the eurozone into its next crisis

17 June 2022 4:00 pm

In the French presidential elections, and now in the legislatives that will close on Sunday evening, the one issue kept…

France is eternally divided

25 April 2022 11:30 pm

A lot happened in France last night. After a lacklustre performance, long disillusioned supporters were unable to summon any enthusiasm…

Even if he wins Macron could be facing disaster

13 April 2022 4:00 pm

Unaccustomed as political scientists are to florid language, they have nevertheless come up with the ‘theory of the dyke’, to…

France is on the brink of a political realignment

10 April 2022 5:00 pm

Until a week before today’s first round of the presidential race the French appeared to be shunning their favourite electoral…

Who's to blame for France's catastrophic intelligence failure in Ukraine?

2 April 2022 5:15 pm

From the outset of the war in Ukraine, the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence agencies have accurately predicted every twist and turn of…

Did the end of the Cold War make conflict in Ukraine inevitable?

11 March 2022 6:00 pm

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows, once again, that seismic shifts in the international order are inexorably followed by war. The adjustment…

Why does Macron keep meddling in international crises?

26 February 2022 9:00 am

Macron’s global posturing may prove to be his downfall

Zemmour, Marion Maréchal and the union of the French Right

30 January 2022 7:40 pm

The news that the highly influential third-generation member of the Le Pen family, Marion Maréchal, will not be backing her…

Could Marine Le Pen be shut out of France's election?

18 January 2022 6:18 pm

Could France’s upcoming presidential election risk destabilising the country, whether or not Emmanuel Macron triumphs? So far, nearly 40 candidates…

France has the most to lose from Britain's turn away from Europe

29 December 2021 6:00 pm

It was Napoleon who declared that ‘a state has the politics of its geography’. We do well to remember that…

The remarkable rise of French sovereignism

12 November 2021 11:35 pm

The French presidential campaign reveals French voters’ widespread urge to roll back EU powers. The top five candidates for the…

Macron is following in the failed footsteps of the wrong Napoleon

2 November 2021 8:21 am

Is Emmanuel Macron turning into Emperor Napoleon III? Not the great Napoleon who conquered Europe and was eventually defeated by…

Emmanuel Macron and the art of tantrum diplomacy

26 September 2021 9:47 am

France’s fit of pique following Australia’s cancelled submarine contract – and the signing of the Aukus pact – is a…

The real reason France was excluded from Aukus

19 September 2021 6:30 am

The fallout from Australia’s cancellation of its submarine contract with France and the new trilateral Indo-Pacific security pact between Australia,…

Macron's ambitions have been torpedoed by Aukus

17 September 2021 6:50 am

Today France is outraged. First, explicitly because Australia has broken a large contract to have a French company design their…

Is the EU trying to hamstring the French military?

1 September 2021 4:30 pm

Much recent discussion has focussed on the collapse of Afghanistan and the decline of the West. The humiliating American-led Western…

France’s deep unrest

14 July 2021 4:00 pm

Today is the 232nd anniversary of the great French revolution. Time to take the temperature of the nation. The regional…