Author: staff
In 2024, member states collectively spent an average of 1.9% of GDP on defence, while Russia was spending 9%, Kaja Kallas told the audience of the European Defence Agency annual conference on Monday. The European Union must boost its defence spending to “prepare for the worst” and be able to defend itself “alone if needed” against a belligerent Russia, the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday. “Many of our national intelligence agencies are giving us the information that Russia could test the EU’s readiness to defend itself in three to five years,” Kallas told the audience at the European…
In 2019, one Germany’s leading policymakers Thomas Bagger laid all this out in an essay detailing the consequences of Trump 1.0 more vividly than anyone had before. He juxtaposed countries like France, with its traditions and strong sense of national interest, and Germany, which has nothing but its post-war principles to fall back on. And suddenly, all the democratic gains that started with the fall of the Berlin Wall were up for grabs. “The Trump challenge goes much deeper than just policy disagreements — his approach pulls the rug from under the feet of German foreign policy thinking since the…
In a speech before the European Parliament, Donald Tusk called for a major boost in Europe’s defence spending and a “critical review” of the Green Deal. “Europe was, is and will always be great,” Donald Tusk declared on Wednesday as he made a passionate plea for ramping up military spending to ensure the continent can defend itself against its adversaries without relying on America’s security umbrella.”If Europe is to survive, it must be armed,” the Polish prime minister told the European Parliament in a wide-ranging address with a heavy focus on security matters.”This is not our choice. I am not…
This year’s annual jamboree in the Alps is drawing to a close. And the man who’s dominated the week — Donald Trump —spoke to the World Economic Forum. He’s hardly the centrist “Davos Man” but he had a message from Washington for the gathering. In Power Play’s final edition from the World Economic Forum in Davos, host Anne McElvoy talks to William Browder, financier and activist, who has been a leading campaigner against Vladimir Putin’s regime since his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was arrested and died in custody in Russia 15 years ago. Does he think Trump can strike a deal with…
One person has been arrested in Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg over a stabbing attack that left two dead. Two people, including a two-year-old boy, were killed and two others were injured in a stabbing attack in Bavaria on Wednesday, German authorities said.The second victim who was killed was a 41-year-old man, and the suspect was a 28-year-old citizen of Afghanistan who was apprehended in the knife attack, which occurred in a park in the city centre of the southern German town of Aschaffenburg.Train services in the town were temporarily interrupted as the suspect tried to flee from police along the…
Poland says it acquired a rare manuscript of a ballad by Frédéric Chopin from private owners after confidential and lengthy negotiations. The manuscript for Ballade No. 4 in F minor is now being displayed at the Chopin Museum in the Polish capital, Warsaw.Warsaw’s Frederic Chopin National Institute has bought the four-paged manuscript using state funds but said the price could not be disclosed due to a clause in the contract.The manuscript was in the possession of private owners, who handed it over to Polish hands after a deal was finalised last year following what was described as lengthy and confidential…
LONDON — U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is in another fight with the Treasury. And, as the government desperately pursues good news on economic growth, he looks destined to lose again. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is on course to approve a new runway at Heathrow Airport, green light the opening of London Gatwick’s second runway and back Luton Airport’s expansion plans, two officials told POLITICO. The decisions, first reported by Bloomberg, would fit with Reeves’ desperate attempts to pull any lever she can to get the economy firing, after the most recent figures showed growth continuing to flatline. Labour has made…
November 2024 recorded 22,000 fewer excess deaths in the EU than in November 2023. Malta, Romania, and Slovakia recorded negative excess mortality rates. Excess mortality in the EU decreased to 5.0% in November 2024 according to the latest Eurostat figures, even as health systems across the region continue to face challenges. This decrease represents 22,000 fewer excess deaths compared to November 2023.Eurostat’s excess mortality is the number of deaths that occur above and beyond what would be expected in a given time. It is measured by comparing the number of deaths during a certain period to the average number of…
“The whole thing is crazy,” said Ivan Mikloš, head of the MESA 10 think tank and the architect of Slovakia’s economic reforms as deputy prime minister and then finance minister from 1998 to 2006. Mikloš told POLITICO that Fico’s pro-Moscow stance and recent saber-rattling over threats to the state were disingenuous. “Global developments have played into his hand, and he has used them, but they aren’t the primary force driving his politics,” he said. “It’s just cynical pragmatism. He can’t maintain power except by mobilizing anti-system forces. And he needs to hold onto power primarily to guarantee immunity for his…
The Bay of Biscay, stretching from the tip of Brittany, in western France, to the north of Spain, is a major fishing zone in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s also home to around 200,000 dolphins. The increased number of strandings in the past years, many of which had traces of accidental catches by fishing nets, raises concern among scientists and environmentalists. Last year, the French government imposed a month-long ban on fishing boats over 8 meters long, to protect dolphins and other marine mammals from accidental entanglement in fishing nets. The measure, now backed by the European Union, was repeated this winter, forcing…