EU

Is the European centre collapsing?

17 October 2021 8:00 pm

There’s a growing tension in the European bloc between those unhappy with Brussels’s increasing interventionism and by those who feel the…

Macron may well win. But Macronism is dead

14 October 2021 3:19 pm

President Emmanuel Macron was in an expansive mood this week as he commandeered the splendid beaux arts Grand Palais in…

David Frost's protocol diplomacy

13 October 2021 12:03 am

As a general rule in post-Brexit politics, when David Frost makes a public intervention on the Northern Ireland protocol, it…

Poland's top court has finally called the EU's bluff

9 October 2021 12:26 pm

For many years, the EU has posed as a kind of overbearing imperial leviathan, which insists its law has to prevail over…

Von der Leyen is the real winner of the German elections

29 September 2021 5:00 am

The bald guy who leads the Social Democrats. The earnest looking Green lady. Or perhaps the guy in the charcoal-grey…

German voters set for a tense night

27 September 2021 9:06 am

The German elections have turned out to be an unexpected nail-biter. Since the exit polls were released earlier this evening…

The EU should keep out of France's spat with Australia

22 September 2021 6:46 am

Ursula von der Leyen has demanded a full investigation. EU officials are considering pulling out of technology talks with the…

The sad circus of the German election

19 September 2021 5:00 pm

The German election campaign has been entirely lacking in substance. Laschet, Baerbock, Scholz: none seem to grip the public’s attention.…

Aukus is a disaster for the EU

18 September 2021 10:05 am

It is hard to overstate the importance of the so-called Aukus alliance between the US, the UK and Australia —…

Donald Tusk is playing a dangerous game in dismissing Polexit

13 September 2021 9:42 pm

‘The British showed that the dictatorship of the Brussels bureaucracy did not suit them and turned around and left.’ That’s…

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…

In defence of cruel foods

30 August 2021 5:53 am

Fishmongers are an endangered species in London. Thankfully, 15 minutes walk across Westminster from The Spectator’s offices there is an…

How will Europe respond to a wave of Afghan refugees?

27 August 2021 11:25 pm

On Tuesday, Franek Sterczewski made a break for the border. Wearing a long trench coat and carrying a blue plastic…

Fortress Europe is dreading the Afghan migrant crisis

25 August 2021 6:03 pm

Fortress Europe is pulling up the drawbridge. The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban is likely to being about a…

Europe will suffer as Germany drifts

18 August 2021 1:10 pm

Over the last 15 years Germany has come to be seen by many in Europe as a paragon of political…

Poles apart: The EU will never understand Poland

11 August 2021 7:05 pm

Poland was the largest state in Europe for over two centuries. It was a multi-ethnic commonwealth, a refuge for Jews,…

Guy Verhofstadt claims Olympic gold for the EU

6 August 2021 7:00 am

Who is on top of the gold medal table at the Tokyo Olympics? China? The United States? According to former European…

Why is the EU attending the butcher of Tehran’s inauguration?

5 August 2021 6:18 am

At the beginning of the year Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, was forced to hastily cancel a diplomatic…

The EU’s woeful response to the collapse of Tunisian democracy

4 August 2021 1:18 am

For a political actor that ‘believes in the universal value of democracy and the rights of the individual,’ as the…

Hungary, Poland and the EU’s ‘diversity’ problem

2 August 2021 11:59 pm

It is quite something when the self-proclaimed ‘illiberal’ prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, reminds Brussels of its liberal principles.…

The EU is failing to stand up for eastern Europe

29 July 2021 8:42 am

Will the EU stand up for eastern Europe? This question is now being asked by Ukraine following the announcement of…

The EU’s menacing rule of law power grab

26 July 2021 10:16 pm

Officially the European Union may be a union of sovereign states. But its Commission increasingly has the air of an…

Boris's Brexit deal isn’t worth sacrificing Northern Ireland for

21 July 2021 11:43 pm

There will be chaos at the borders. Food will run out at the supermarkets. Travellers will face long queues, and…

The EU will regret its legal onslaught against Poland

17 July 2021 3:30 pm

When European governments openly disobey courts, ears prick up. When two courts simultaneously contradict each other on the same day…

The rule of law is breaking down in the EU

17 July 2021 9:18 am

There are 27 member states in the EU. Two have now declared they are not bound by EU law. Based…