Patrick Gibbons

This weekend in Oslo politicians and activists from Norway’s conservative party, Høyre, will meet to confirm their new leader, Ine Eriksen Søreide. This is not just a vote to further the prospects of the next generation of centre-right leaders but – due to a rare alignment of domestic and geopolitical conditions – the potential starting point for a renewed push towards Norway joining the European Union (EU). Formerly Norway's minister of foreign affairs, Søreide is a committed Europhile. She has been unambiguous on EU membership, saying Høyre is ‘clearly a yes party’.  It is perhaps just a peculiar coincidence that has left several North Sea powers outside the EU.

Every time Donald Trump repeats his threats towards Greenland, a familiar claim does the rounds that the UK has ‘first dibs’ should Denmark ever choose to sell the territory. Most versions of this story trace back to comments by Tom Hoyem, who served as Denmark’s last minister for Greenland in the 1980s. The claim gained traction again after Trump’s recent threats about acquiring the island, saying ‘one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland’. These threats – which have now been accompanied by additional tariffs on countries including the UK – are being taken so seriously that the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers met US vice president J.D. Vance in Washington this week.

As the tenth anniversary of the Brexit vote approaches, renewed debate about Britain’s relationship with the European Union is perhaps inevitable. A steady drip of stories has suggested that closer ties between the UK and EU may once again be under consideration, with speculation over rejoining the customs union appearing every week since the Budget. Health Secretary Wes Streeting went further just before Christmas, arguing in favour of the move. The economic case for deeper cooperation may be compelling, but even for those who hope this is a prelude to something bigger, it is worth asking a more fundamental question: what kind of European Union would Britain be re-entering? One answer can be found among the generation now beginning to shape European politics from below.

Labour’s plans to overhaul Britain’s overstretched asylum system have forced the Irish government to do the same. As the Northern Irish border is the only international border across these islands, Shabana Mahmood’s pledge to create ‘by far the most controlled and selective [asylum system] in Europe’ left Dublin with little choice. Ireland’s Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration – Ireland’s equivalent to the Home Secretary – Jim O’Callaghan warned that Ireland must be ready to adjust its own policies to prevent a surge in applicants travelling via Northern Ireland.

‘I will be an inclusive president for all of you,’ Catherine Connolly declared as she was announced the winner of Ireland’s presidential election – a landslide victory over Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys.  The independent TD received 63 per cent of the vote (with spoiled ballots excluded) to become Ireland’s tenth president. The result was officially confirmed early yesterday evening, but Connolly’s victory was clear from the moment counting began. ‘Catherine will be my president,’ Humphreys conceded, having received just over 29 per cent of the vote. Connolly defeated Humphreys in Ireland’s first head-to-head presidential race since 1973.

‘How could you possibly say the EU is good as it stands?’ the woman says. Brexit, she continues, is a ‘first step [in] exposing the EU’. The speaker is Catherine Connolly. She is the frontrunner to win Ireland’s presidential election tomorrow. The footage stands out for two reasons. One, it’s rare for an Irish politician so close to high office to be seen as critical of the EU. Two, the video has only just resurfaced, despite being nine years old. While support for EU membership in Ireland typically polls between 70 and 90 per cent, opinion is becoming less homogenous, an interest in alternative views about the bloc is growing. The video of Connolly surfaced and entered the national conversation a week ago.

‘The European path of Moldova must go on,’ a young Moldovan politician texted me as their parliamentary election results began to roll in yesterday. His party PAS, the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity, won. The race was not as close as some supporters feared, with PAS receiving about 50 per cent of the vote. The main opposition, Patriotic Electoral Bloc – an alliance of pro-Russian socialist and communist parties – received around 25 per cent. This is a remarkable moment for Moldova. Just three weeks ago President Maia Sandu, the founder of PAS, addressed the European parliament in Strasbourg, warning of Russian interference. Calling the election a ‘battlefield’, Sandu declared that joining the European Union was a ‘matter of survival’ for Moldova.