Emmanuel Macron’s unexpected break has pundits asking ‘Should we be worried?’
France Presidential fatigue had French media concerned. — Franceinfo reported that the Council of Ministers was this week moved from Wednesday to Tuesday to allow Emmanuel Macron to “catch his breath”...
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Old German rival returns to haunt Angela Merkel
BERLIN — Imagine the archenemy you outmaneuvered a lifetime ago suddenly appears from the shadows, reincarnated as your successor. Welcome to Angela Merkel’s new nightmare. The emergence of Friedrich...
View ArticleWolfgang Schäuble to men: Do more chores
German Parliament President Wolfgang Schäuble urged men on Thursday to be more supportive of women — also in terms of housekeeping. During a speech in the Bundestag to commemorate 100 years of women’s...
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Britain divides but doesn’t rule
PARIS — Britain has finally managed to split France and Germany over Brexit after nearly three years in which the two continental powers marched in lockstep. The trouble for the U.K. is that it is too...
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How Europe’s biggest media company infiltrated the EU
BERLIN — Martin Selmayr was on a mission. The European Parliament election was still nine months off, but across the Continent populist forces were already roiling the political debate. Selmayr, who as...
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Berlin and Beijing clash over lawmakers’ visit
BERLIN — China’s refusal to let a group of German MPs visit the country has put Berlin and Beijing at loggerheads. A trip by the German parliament’s digital affairs committee, scheduled for the end of...
View ArticleBreton and Gentiloni’s EU bonds proposal receives cool reception
A call by two European commissioners to tackle the coronavirus crisis with long-term financial bonds received a cool reception from their boss on Monday, with the Commission’s chief spokesperson making...
View ArticleHeiko Maas warns against restarting tourism too early
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Sunday urged European countries not to reopen tourism destinations too early, or risk another wave of coronavirus contagion. “A European race to see who will allow...
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What Merkel wants
This article is part of a special report: Berlin in Brussels. BERLIN — Europe’s reluctant hegemon is reluctant no more. For decades, even as Germany’s economic and political clout has grown, German...
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Merkel’s Germany will outlast her
This article is part of a special report: Berlin in Brussels. Judy Dempsey is editor in chief of Strategic Europe, the blog of Carnegie Europe, and author of the book “Das Phänomen Merkel”...
View ArticleMeet the German Donald Trump
BERLIN — A combative old white man who speaks of gays and pedophiles in the same breath, dismisses gender debates as a waste of time and who can’t stand Angela Merkel could hardly be more out of step...
View ArticleRegional defeats spell national trouble for Merkel’s party
BERLIN — A collapse in support for Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats in two regional elections on Sunday signaled that a widening corruption scandal and missteps during the pandemic may threaten the...
View ArticleGermany’s conservative death match
BERLIN — After months of polite jousting, soft jabs and gentle ripostes, the friendly duel over Angela Merkel’s succession finally reached its inevitable final round: a battle to the death. The two...
View ArticleA bruised Laschet wins Germany’s conservative crown
BERLIN — Armin Laschet, a coal miner’s son from the Rhineland who rose from editing a small Catholic newspaper to lead Germany’s most populous state, is the conservative candidate for chancellor and...
View ArticleGermany’s Schäuble condemns anti-Semitism at pro-Palestinian protests
Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble on Monday condemned the “unbearable” anti-Semitism on display at many pro-Palestinian protests in Germany over the weekend. Israel’s politics can be “sharply...
View ArticleTransatlantic teamwork lifts coronavirus recovery, says ECB’s Christine Lagarde
FRANKFURT — The transatlantic motor is back in gear. That’s the message from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, who hailed Western cooperation as vital to secure the global recovery...
View ArticleChristine Lagarde: ‘Not to brag about it, but we sure delivered’
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, talks to POLITICO about the first crisis she steered the bank through and the EU’s economic recovery. In a wide-ranging interview, the...
View ArticleThe world according to Wolfgang Schäuble
BERLIN — Germany needs to start showing Central and Eastern Europe more respect, and stop all the lecturing and acting as if it were the Continent’s know-it-all. The view from Budapest? Warsaw? Guess...
View ArticleSchäuble warns of foreign interference in German election
BERLIN — Wolfgang Schäuble, the president of the German parliament, has said he fears attempts from abroad to interfere in September’s general election, warning that “the danger is relatively great.”...
View ArticleThe fight over fiscal tightening has already been decided
Mujtaba Rahman is the head of Eurasia Group’s Europe practice and the author of POLITICO’s Beyond the Bubble column. He tweets at @Mij_Europe. Progress with vaccinations and the waning of the pandemic...
View ArticlePoland has a point about the EU’s legal supremacy
Stefan Auer is associate professor of European studies at the University of Hong Kong. Nicole Scicluna is an assistant professor in government and international studies at Hong Kong Baptist...
View ArticleGerman Social Democrats nominate Bärbel Bas as parliament president
BERLIN — Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD), who won last month’s election, are set to nominate Bärbel Bas as president of the parliament. If confirmed, she would be only the third woman to hold the...
View ArticleNew German parliament opens with words of caution from departing president
BERLIN — One month after the election that ended Chancellor Angela Merkel’s reign, the new German parliament convened for the first time Tuesday to approve a generational change in leadership, from...
View ArticleChristian Lindner as German finance minister: Does he add up?
BERLIN — Finance minister or “fuck-up”? Christian Lindner, the German liberal leader seen as the country’s likely next finance minister, has faced a barrage of criticism in recent days from prominent...
View ArticlePutin’s useful German idiots
BERLIN — Germany is no stranger to the wrong side of history. That’s why it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Berlin spent the past 16 years with its feet firmly planted on the wrong side of the divide...
View ArticleAngela Merkel receives Germany’s highest honor
BERLIN — Former Chancellor Angela Merkel received Germany’s highest federal decoration on Monday, an honor bestowed on only two other former leaders before her, though some within her own party...
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Germany chokes on its own austerity medicine
BERLIN — Germans gave the world Schadenfreude for a reason. And southern Europe couldn’t be more pleased. For countries that spent years on the receiving end of Europe’s German-inspired fiscal...
View ArticleWolfgang Schäuble, former German finance minister, dies at 81
Wolfgang Schäuble, former German finance minister, longstanding senior lawmaker and a key figure behind Berlin’s controversial austerity push during the eurozone financial crisis, has died at the age...
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As Trump’s return looms, Europe shivers at prospect of facing Putin alone
BERLIN — Europe’s greatest security challenge since the Cold War — the chilling prospect of needing to fund and arm Ukraine without U.S. support — will expose political fault lines at a memorial...
View ArticleHerr Macron! How the French president surprised Berlin with a speech in German
BERLIN — Emmanuel Macron: French president, statesman and, er, German speaker. Macron impressed and surprised mourners in the German parliament on Monday by delivering a eulogy for Wolfgang Schäuble...
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Has Portugal’s António Costa struck his last deal?
Has Portugal’s António Costa struck his last deal? A problem-solving prime minister faces his greatest challenge ever: Clearing his name in time to become president of the European Council. By AITOR...
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