Europe

Overlook for the moment the shenanigans surrounding French prime minister Michel Barnier’s attempt to cobble together a new government. One political crisis can conceal another. And a more existential spectre is haunting Paris. Its name is Marine Le Pen. Amidst the chaos, the weakened president and the hapless efforts to form a government, the leader of the National Rally seems to be the only winner. We are embarked on the final phase of the Macron epoch In Paris’s smartest arrondissements, inhabited by the political and media blob who have run everything in France since forever, the unthinkable has become the plausible. The national political nervous breakdown, precipitated by president Emmanuel Macron,

Russia’s decision to kick out six alleged British spies in August prompted a strange sense of deja vu. After the Salisbury nerve agent attack in March 2018, I sweated for a week in the British Embassy in Moscow, waiting to hear if I’d be kicked out in the diplomatic tit-for-tat. We need a better plan for Russia expertise if we really want to outsmart Putin Russia’s announcement was timed to embarrass Keir Starmer as he travelled to Washington last week for talks with Joe Biden. It was also a blow to the critically small pool of Russia experts in the British government. In the hostile goldfish bowl of UK-Russia relations,

Diane Abbott believes that Giorgia Meloni is a ‘literal fascist’. That must come as a surprise to the 12.3 million voters who elected her prime minister of Italy two years ago. Not to mention King Charles, who hosted Meloni at Blenheim Palace in July. The Right Honourable Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington described Meloni as a fascist as Keir Starmer jetted to Italy this week to meet the country’s leader. ‘What does he hope to learn from her,’ asked Abbott. Perhaps the British premier would like to hear how Meloni has this year reduced immigrant arrivals on Italian territory by 65 per cent. Is this the behaviour of

The spectacular resignation of Thierry Breton from the European Commission suggests that the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is not quite as useless as her numerous critics suggest. Breton’s departure was overdue. Credit to von der Leyen for wielding the long knife. Breton’s arrogance was exceeded only by his uselessness. After Mario Draghi’s taxonomy of European decline last week, the role of Breton as commissioner in charge of the single market was a nonsense. Draghi said Europe is on a path to self-destruction, becoming nothing more than an open-air museum, sustained by tourism. Breton’s arrogance was exceeded only by his uselessness Gavin Mortimer wrote here that Draghi

Sir Keir Starmer, the man often dubbed ‘Mr. Rules’ for his reputation as a stickler for ethical conduct, now finds himself facing an ethics probe over undeclared gifts. The accusations concern luxury suits gifted to Starmer and dresses for his wife, Victoria, reportedly paid for by Lord Alli, a Labour peer and supporter. Starmer’s team failed to declare the gifts given to Lady Starmer, a mistake apparently made after receiving incorrect advice from Downing Street. The suits themselves were declared in line with parliamentary rules, but the same was not true for the dresses. Now, questions are swirling as the Prime Minister scrambles to explain the late declaration. This recalls

Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood and a well-known figure in the Islamic world, has been convicted of the rape and sexual coercion of a woman in a Geneva hotel, after a court overturned an earlier acquittal. Professor Ramadan has been jailed for three years, two suspended, over the 2008 incident. Ramadan was a poster boy for those in authority The verdict marks a remarkable fall from grace for Ramadan, who was raised in exile in Switzerland, and skilfully navigated the Francophone, English and Arabic speaking worlds as an academic, campaigner and theologian. His father, Said Ramadan, was central to the Muslim Brotherhood’s development in Europe.  While Ramadan

Ding ding! It’s not just in Westminster that the debate over illegal migration has got politicians tearing chunks out of each other. Over in Berlin, an emotional Olaf Scholz got up in front of the Bundestag to give his opponents a piece of his mind. The Chancellor’s speech was meant to be about the budget, but soon veered off track onto migration. In front of a room of rowdy, heckling parliamentarians, the Chancellor attacked the CDU leader of the opposition, Friedrich Merz: ‘You are the type of politician who believes that he has solved the migration issue simply with an interview in Bild am Sonntag. That’s not how it works in reality!’

From next week, Germany will enforce controls at its borders once again. The decision, announced by interior minister Nancy Faeser, comes only a little more than a week after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) achieved major successes in several regional elections. Faeser said that border controls would be applied to tackle irregular immigration as well as to strengthen internal security against the threat of Islamic terrorism and international criminality. These permanent controls will replace the usual spot checks common at borders within the European Union for six months, although it is possible that they could be extended. The government may hit the panic button if the rise of the

Is German chancellor Olaf Scholz giving in to pressure to reduce support for Ukraine and improve relations with Russia? Scholz declared during a televised interview with the German network ZDF broadcast last night that any fresh peace talks to bring an end to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine should also include Russia.  ‘I believe that now is the time to discuss how we can arrive at a peaceful resolution from this war, at a faster pace than currently appears to be the case,’ Scholz said. ‘The [Ukrainian] president and I are in agreement that any talks should include Russia.’ Securing Russia’s attendance at future peace negotiations is, of course, another

‘We came as adversaries, we stayed as allies, and we leave as friends,’ British prime minister John Major told crowds in Berlin on 8 September 1994, thirty years ago today. The last 200 British, American and French soldiers withdrew from Berlin that day, leaving the city without a foreign military presence for the first time since the Second World War. This was supposed to be the end of history. In reality, a new chapter had already begun. The presence of the Western Allies in post-war Germany is still remembered fondly today. There are events marking the 30th anniversary of their departure, and many traces of their occupation remain. Take the

Robert Jenrick appears on course to become leader of the Conservative party within a year of resigning from ministerial office in Rishi Sunak’s administration. That is a telling indicator of how far the Conservative regimes of the last parliament had strayed from the gut instincts of the Tory tribe. Jenrick has been focused on victory for many months The Newark MP is far from home and hosed in the contest and may yet be defeated by the force of Kemi Badenoch’s political personality, or the sheer ‘nice guy’ campaigning warmth of James Cleverly. But the bookies now make him clear favourite to become Leader of the Opposition on 2 November

Michel Barnier, the OAP appointed yesterday as Prime Minister of France, is a sensible fellow, even if at 73 he should be putting up his feet after decades in the political trenches. And he has plenty of pensions to draw on. He’s not exciting. Scandal free, socially conservative, a master of dossiers – not intrigue, he’s not even a graduate of the École National d’Administration, the finishing school of the French elite. He’s a former choir boy and Scout who seems never to have made a memorable speech in his long career. He’s rather boring, and normal. His two memorable achievements seem to have been as the EU’s Brexit negotiator, in