Philip Sime

“Look on the bright side…Brexit no longer seems so serious” Chappatte in Le Temps, Switzerland The events in Catalonia dominate Europe’s press this morning, seen as the biggest political crisis to hit the country since the attempted coup d’état of 1981. The Madrid-based El País says the invocation of Article 155 was done so ‘legally

In the immediate aftermath of Britain’s vote to leave the EU, there were fears in the corridors of Brussels that it would trigger a so-called ‘domino effect’. Many predicted that other Eurosceptic nations would follow Britain’s lead, unravelling the European project which took 65 years to build. More than one year after the Brexit vote,

Theresa May had hoped her Conservative conference speech would not only paper over the cracks within her own party but also strengthen her Brexit negotiating position ahead of a crucial EU summit later this month. In around two weeks, EU leaders will gather in Brussels to decide whether to commence trade negotiations with the UK. The key

Angela Merkel has won, for the fourth time, but on her party’s worst election result since 1949. Her main rivals did just as badly and the main winner looks like Alternative for Germany (AfD), now Germany’s no3 party. Here’s the national picture: So the centre-left Social Democratic Party is heading for just 20pc, its worst result since the

Following months of tortured negotiation between the UK and the EU, Theresa May delivered her speech in Florence yesterday in an attempt to break the Brexit deadlock. Mrs May proposed a two-year transition period during which Britain would retain its access to the single market and confirmed that the UK Government will honour its commitments to

Many in Brussels are anxiously looking out for any sign of what has been termed ‘Brexit contagion’ – the idea that the Brits might encourage others towards leaving the EU. The findings of a major Pew survey of European opinion does not point to a rush towards the exit, but it certainly does flag up

Senior figures in Europe have spent the last few days pondering how Theresa May’s bungled election gamble will affect the upcoming Brexit negotiations. To the surprise of many, May, who campaigned to remain in the EU, had apparently set the UK on course for a hard Brexit, which involved leaving the single market behind. There was

The people with whom Theresa May will soon be negotiating over Brexit have been looking on in astonishment at her self-immolation. Here’s a selection of the media coverage on the continent. France Against all the odds, France’s new President, Emmanuel Macron, looks set to win an impressive majority in the upcoming parliamentary elections. So from chaos

Theresa May’s election gamble hasn’t paid off. Yet in spite of the PM blowing her majority, May has vowed to carry on and offer ‘certainty’ to Britain. Overnight, May’s miscalculation has transformed her from an ‘iron lady’ into a ‘wobbly’ political figure in the eyes of the European press. Here’s how the general election has been covered on

Britain’s newspapers aren’t happy at yesterday’s High Court ruling that the government cannot trigger Article 50 without the say-so of Parliament. And the news isn’t going down well in Europe either. There are fears that a Brexit hold-up could have ramifications on the continent. In the days after the referendum, European leaders were quick to call for a speedy Brexit.

Britain’s decision to leave the EU sent shockwaves crashing throughout the continent. As Europe struggled to interpret the outcome of the referendum, we heard calls for Brussels to drive a hard bargain with the UK in order to contain the ‘Brexit contagion’. The European Council President Donald Tusk’s warning that the UK must not be

Plans to build a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset suffered a surprise setback on Friday after the Government said it wanted to ‘review’ the decision before it gave the go-ahead. But what are EDF – the French company which had approved funding for the project – and the French press making

A new British Prime Minister is always big news on the continent and around the world. This time around, with Mrs May tasked with redefining Britain’s relationship with the EU, the foreign press has taken a special interest in recent events in Downing Street. One of the big stories aside from Britain’s new Prime Minister

As Britain’s second female Prime Minister, Theresa May has inevitably been compared to Margaret Thatcher. But she’s also been linked to a contemporaneous politician: Angela Merkel. Whilst some have dismissed the comparisons, it’s not only British journalists drawing on the similarities between Theresa May and the ‘Iron Frau’ – German newspapers are now doing the

Much of the media attention in recent days has been focused on the vacuum of leadership in Westminster. However, Britain’s momentous decision to leave the EU has exposed deep cracks in relations with the European Union. Almost immediately after the Brexit vote, nations across continent woke up to the new possibility of leaving the bloc.

The debate around withdrawing from the European Union has dominated front pages and column inches for several months in Britain. However, with less than 24-hours until the UK makes the biggest democratic decision for a generation, the word ‘Brexit’ is now beginning to appear in newspapers across the continent and permeate the consciousness of our

Various freak political events—the unexpected Tory election victory, the rise of Ukip—have conspired to allow Britain to hold its referendum on the EU this week. But if the rest of Europe were asked, what would they say? The Berlin-based Bertelsmann Foundation commissioned a study of 11,000 people in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland to find