European Union
The EU finally takes the Red Sea crisis seriously
An oil tanker carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude oil is on fire and adrift in the Red Sea, after Houthi…
Hungary is stretching the EU’s patience to its limit
Hungary is no stranger to spats with its European neighbours. Under prime minister Viktor Orbán’s leadership, it has exercised veto…
Keir Starmer’s plans to soften Brexit
Anew political bromance is brewing on the continent. Keir Starmer has met Olaf Scholz, his German counterpart, three times since…
Viktor Orban is not abandoning Europe
The news that Hungary and China have signed a security pact, following a visit by to Budapest by Wang Xiaohong,…
The problem with Macron’s vision for Europe
The Ukraine crisis has transformed international affairs, forcing countries the world over to rethink their alliances and interests. New patterns…
How Turkey is fuelling the Belarus-Poland migrant crisis
In the cold, damp forest lining the border between Poland and Belarus, thousands of refugees flown over from the Middle…
Macron may well win. But Macronism is dead
President Emmanuel Macron was in an expansive mood this week as he commandeered the splendid beaux arts Grand Palais in…
Is the EU trying to hamstring the French military?
Much recent discussion has focussed on the collapse of Afghanistan and the decline of the West. The humiliating American-led Western…
Guy Verhofstadt claims Olympic gold for the EU
Who is on top of the gold medal table at the Tokyo Olympics? China? The United States? According to former European…
The EU's decline is self-inflicted
In 1991, at the height of the first Gulf War, the EU demonstrated to the world its divisions and helplessness,…
The EU’s vaccine catastrophe is a crisis of its own making
As news emerges that both Pfizer and AstraZeneca are cutting supplies of their Covid-19 vaccines to the EU by up…
Brexit Britain will be the winner in the EU’s war on Joe Biden
A new era of transatlantic cooperation will have begun. The United States will pivot towards Brussels. The trade wars will…
Britain’s bizarre Italian travel guidance
Here’s a tip. When the Foreign Office advises against going somewhere, hop on the next plane. The mandarins have advised…
The US is coming out of COVID no worse than any European country
It has become a received wisdom in recent months that the US has failed where the EU had succeeded. On…
Could the Covid crisis be an economic opportunity for Brexit Britain?
Could the Covid crisis be an economic opportunity for Brexit Britain?
Britain must fight the EU’s nanny state urges
The UK government has given the EU a Brexit deadline of four months. No. 10 is threatening to walk away from the negotiating table…
The cosmic magnetism of Trump and Brexit
Polite British eurosceptics still insist that Brexit isn’t Trump and Trump isn’t Brexit — as if that meant anything at…
There’s no going back on Brexit. But liberal policies are the way forward
This week Brexit reached its Somme. The government has been bogged down in votes on amendments inserted into its Brexit…
Open goal: Britain must embrace all Brexit’s freedoms
A decade ago, bankers were not merely the masters of Davos, but the ‘masters of the universe’. No one calls…
Europe’s biggest Brexit fear? That we’ll flourish outside the EU
What do Europeans really think about Brexit? Do they secretly admire our unexpected decision to walk away from all those…
The Brexit Breakdown
Theresa May’s Brexit challenge is truly Herculean. Every time she believes she has done enough to finally move the Brexit…
Does Brexit mean anything anymore?
Emma Bridgewater has, since 1985, produced pottery acceptable in tasteful middle-class kitchens. Some jars had Coffee on and some Biscuits.…
A £50 billion Brexit ‘divorce bill’ is a price worth paying
There will be howls of outrage in some quarters if it is confirmed that the government has offered the EU…
The Irish stance against Brexit is a dangerous gamble
Never has a European Council been so important to a British prime minister as this December’s is to Theresa May.…