Author: staff

BRUXELLES — Des navires liés à la Russie continuent de déverser du pétrole au large des côtes européennes, malgré les sanctions des Occidentaux, soulignant l’incapacité de l’UE à maîtriser la flotte “fantôme” de Moscou. Au cours de l’année écoulée, au moins cinq pétroliers de l’armada russe qui ne respecte pas les sanctions ont continué à naviguer sans entrave dans les eaux européennes après avoir laissé des nappes de pétrole près du continent, selon une enquête conjointe du groupe journalistique à but non lucratif SourceMaterial et de POLITICO. Deux de ces navires avaient été sanctionnés individuellement par le Royaume-Uni avant de…

Lecornu’s new assignment caps a whirlwind 24 hours in French politics that has pushed the country ever closer toward a calamity with little precedent. It began Sunday evening when the first batch of government ministers were named. Opposition politicians and potential coalition partners were disappointed as the group was drawn from a cast of characters that mostly resembled the government of Lecornu’s predecessor François Bayrou, which was toppled over its spending plans last month. Bruno Retailleau, the head of the conservative Les Républicains, was reappointed as interior minister but immediately criticized Lecornu’s choices, which he said included too many officials…

His decision was taken at the end of a rollercoaster day during which the French president himself made no public remarks, but was spotted pacing alone along the banks of the Seine, cutting a solitary figure and apparently weighing up the future of France. Ultimately, the outcome of his deliberations was underwhelming and appears doomed from the start, as opposition parties piled on the French president and his latest move. “Let’s move on. They are just trying to buy time, it’s ridiculous, it’s melodrama. Let’s stop this,” said Green lawmaker Sandrine Rousseau. “Trust is broken,” said Agnès Evren, a senator…

“Europe is important — the United Kingdom and France are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, and both matter. The European Union as a whole is also important,” Wadephul said, arguing that Germany has also played an active role. “Yesterday, I spoke with the Qatari foreign minister and prime minister — the key man in contact with Hamas … Tonight, I’ll fly to Cairo to meet the Egyptian foreign minister,” he said. “I’m doing exactly what a foreign minister should: Building understanding, exchanging positions, helping mediate, building bridges … Whether it ultimately helps achieve success, we’ll see — but…

“In June 2021, I felt that Putin was no longer taking the Minsk agreement seriously,” Merkel said, referring to the peace agreement relating to control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region following the 2014-2015 conflict. “And that’s why I wanted a new format where we, as the European Union, could talk directly with Putin.” At a European Council meeting that month, Merkel and Macron proposed direct negotiations with other leaders in response to the buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine’s border. But a coalition of Eastern European countries, including Poland, opposed the idea. “This was not supported by some. It was…

Voting in favor of von der Leyen, as her group will do, “doesn’t mean everything is fine,” Hayer said. “Because since the first motion of censure last July, we can’t say we’ve really made any progress.” 11. The Greens are not part of the von der Leyen club VDL’s EPP is weakening Europe because it’s vacillating on “which side of the political spectrum they stand on,”  Greens co-leader Terry Reintke said. The Greens have plenty of complaints, from the “late reaction” to suffering in Gaza to the scrapping of climate initiatives. But they won’t vote against her, Reintke said, because “do…

Update: Regierungsvakuum in Frankreich – zwischen Hass und Frieden im Nahen Osten – POLITICO Skip to main content

Babiš had aimed to form a single-party minority government propped up by the tacit support of the two parties, but that goal appears difficult to attain, as both the Motorists and SPD say they want to participate directly in the government. In Czechia, the president has a kingmaker role in deciding who will be tasked with forming the government, choosing the leader most likely to secure a majority. However, the election winner usually gets the first chance. Once the government is established, the president appoints the prime minister and ministers, but the Cabinet must still win a vote of confidence…

A wave of social media posts has misleadingly interpreted a recent statement made by the European Commission, framing it as a bombshell admission that COVID-19 vaccines were passed without proper checks. “Since 2020, we’ve been told that everything was secure, that everything had been tested. Now Mrs. von der Leyen and her Brussels technocrats have at last recognised that the authorisations for COVID-19 vaccines were handed on the basis of partial dossier,” a YouTuber named ‘CharOfficiel’ said in a video which has been viewed more than 16,000 times. To support his claim, the YouTuber cites an article published by German…

Russian president Vladimir Putin “lied to Donald Trump” about his intentions to put an end to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Trump’s former envoy for Ukraine negotiations told Euronews. And this is why “it’s quite possible that the US will send Tomahawks to Ukraine,” Kurt Volker said.   On 19 August, just days after Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska, the US president hosted Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other EU leaders at the White House. Following that meeting, Trump said he was going to arrange a meeting between Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Volker says this is what Putin promised Trump…