EU consumer sales rebound defies tariff tensions
European consumers are quietly rescuing EU growth — even while boycotting US brands.
Politics
Latest reporting and analysis on politics.
Germany to extend border controls in migration crackdown
Germany will push on with temporary border controls beyond a September deadline as it cracks down on irregular immigration, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt…
Pro-parenting video by UK Conservative MP blocked under Online Safety Act
A British Conservative Party MP’s pro-parenting campaign video has been blocked on X because it features a baby.
AfD candidate excluded from German mayoral race over alleged ‘lack of constitutional loyalty’
The main German opposition party's candidate has been excluded from running for mayor in Ludwigshafen, an industrial city of 170,000 people in the State of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The problem of the State on the Right
One of the main ideological tensions on the so-called dissident Right – also known as the populist, nationalist or hard-right – concerns the role of the State.
Spain favours European options over US-made F-35 fighter jets
Spain has decided against purchasing US-made F-35 fighter jets and will instead opt for European-made options, the defence ministry said August 6, confirming a report…
Norway to review sovereign wealth fund’s Israeli investments
Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has tasked his finance minister Jens Stoltenberg to investigate the country's sovereign wealth fund’s stake in Israeli…
French PM Bayrou’s budget-cuts video fuels anger
The French Prime Minister François Bayrou has launched a new video series aimed at defending his government’s €45 billion savings plan, fuelling widespread…
Greece’s national co-ordinator for EU funds resigns after police raid
Greece's national co-ordinator for European Union funds and women’s entrepreneurship, Kalliopi Semertzidou, has resigned following reports allegedly linking her…
Polish presidential inauguration puts new Conservative head of state against PM Tusk
Poland’s opposition Conservatives (PiS)-aligned new President Karol Nawrocki has, on his inauguration, thrown down the gauntlet to the centre-left coalition government…
Ukraine seeks €120m loan from Poland to buy Polish weapons
Ukrainian foreign minister Adrii Sybiha confirmed his country was seeking a €120 million loan to fund the purchase of Polish-produced weapons.
Israel and US slam Polish PM Tusk over Gaza-Israel comments
The Israeli Government and the US ambassador to Poland have attacked Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski for remarks…
Irish news gadfly Gript to sue Press Council over allegedly ‘flawed ruling’
Irish Conservative news site and government gadfly Gript has announced it will take the Irish Press Council to court.
EU spends €1 million to fight online ‘hate speech’ in South Sudan
South Sudan has received €1 million from the European Union to combat "hate speech" online.
Moldovan pro-Russian opposition leader gets seven years in jail
Evgenia Gutul, leader of the Moldovan opposition and head of the autonomous region of Gagauzia, was sentenced to seven years in jail for funnelling Russian money…
NGOs look for plastics reduction treaty, without US if necessary
Countries from around the world are meeting in Geneva to try to agree on a global treaty to reduce plastic pollution.
Ukraine arrests six officials for alleged drone procurement corruption
Ukraine's anti-corruption authorities arrested several officials, including an MP with President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People party.
Dutch are first to buy US arms for Ukraine under NATO scheme
The Netherlands will buy €500 million of US weapons for Ukraine, becoming the first NATO member to fund a full package under a new scheme to speed deliveries from…
India hits out at EU, US ‘targeting it over purchases of Russian oil’
India's foreign ministry said the European Union and US were "targeting" it due to its buying of Russian oil, adding that the moves were "unjustified" and that it…
Ukraine: Russians understand ‘the longer term,’ the West does not
When, as they have done, the Visegrad Four talk about events in central Europe, wise folk listen.
European Commission’s complicity in Poland’s constitutional breakdown
The victory of Karol Nawrocki in the presidential election and his assumption of office due on August 6 constitutes a direct challenge to the mandate of Tusk’s…
Brigitte Macron ‘fuels anti-trans stigma’, claims LGBT rights activist
A prominent LGBT activist has accused France's First Lady, Brigitte Macron, of prejudice against transgender people by her pursuing legal action against those claiming…
UK bans Coinbase advert criticising country
The UK has banned a musical advertisement that sharply criticised the situation for much of the population in the country.
French MP slams Musk’s AI Grok for ‘spreading fake news’
French eco-socialist MP Aymeric Caron has accused Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok of being a “dangerous tool for misinformation” for falsely identifying an image…
Germany’s Söder demands end of welfare payments to Ukrainian refugees
German Conservative heavyweight politician Markus Söder said he wanted to exclude Ukrainians in Germany from the country’s increasingly expensive social welfare…
Asylum claims to Germany fall by more than half
Germany has seen a sharp decline in new asylum requests after Berlin introduced tougher policies on mass migration.
Landmark ECJ rulings drastically expand migrants’ rights and limit State discretion
In two landmark decisions, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has significantly restricted how European Union member states manage asylum claims, delivering a setback…
Council of Europe critical of Spain’s falling short in fight against corruption
Spain is failing to tackle corruption, a report from the Council of Europe has found.
Slovenia ‘first EU nation’ to ban weapons trade with Israel
Slovenia said it will ban all weapons trade with Israel over the war in Gaza in what it said was a first by a European Union nation.
New Ukraine law rules deportations from Communist Poland illegal
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed into law legislation that recognises ethnic Ukrainians expelled from Communist Poland after the Second World…