Author: staff

Europe is working hard to end the standoff with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over the €90 billion loan promised to Ukraine. Host Zoya Sheftalovich and Ian Wishart, senior EU politics editor, discuss how likely it is for the deadlock to be resolved before tomorrow’s meeting of EU leaders now that Kyiv has agreed to work with the bloc to repair the Druzhba pipeline. Orbán has held off on greenlighting any funding until Ukraine fixes this pipeline that carries Russian oil into Hungary. Also on the pod, Brussels is trying to do something about its startup problem. The European Commission…

“That’s his strategy,” said a Socialist Party adviser who, like others quoted in this story, was granted anonymity to discuss party politics. “We are capable of taking a dive in elections, but France Unbowed never takes a dive, they never go under 10 percent” in national elections, the adviser said. “But there isn’t a scenario in which he wins in a runoff vote against Bardella.” The difficulty for the moderate left is compounded by the fact that Mélenchon is one of the most charismatic politicians on the left. He has even drawn the reluctant admiration of Le Pen’s niece, Marion…

“If the opposition wins just a simple majority, Orbán will have a lot of tools to make it almost impossible for a new government to be formed or even for a new parliament to be convened,” she said. “He could engineer a constitutional crisis and declare an emergency.”  Orbán’s supporters, for their part, point to the prime minister’s past as proof that he is ready to accept the result of an election. Voted out after his first term in 2002, Orbán bided his time and staged a comeback eight years later. If there’s a danger of somebody not accepting the…

La guerre en Iran et la crise énergétique bousculent le programme du sommet européen – POLITICO Skip to main content

Security-Update: U-Boot-Deal mit Kanada — mit Carsten Breuer und Jennie Carignan – POLITICO Skip to main content

“We have found that policymakers have used almost all of the debt-financed funds for other purposes, namely, to cover budget shortfalls. This is a major problem,” said Ifo President Clemens Fuest. After two consecutive years of recession, Germany’s economy barely grew in 2025. It was widely expected to pick up speed in 2026, helped by public investment. But a rebound appears to have failed to materialize thus far.  New headwinds from the conflict in the Middle East will make any recovery even more contingent on effective government spending, analysts warn. The IW report calculated that, last year, the governing coalition…

EU lawmakers moved to advance the EU–US trade agreement after months of resisting pressure from Washington and the European Commission on Tuesday. The shift is significant as it kickstarts a process long held by delays due to fundamental disagreements between Brussels and Washington, amplified by their different positions on almost everything – from trade and digital rules to Greenland and now Iran. Members of the European Parliament had resisted continuing the process to implement an agreement seen as lopsided in favour of the US. Still, despite legal and political concerns, they have decided to restart it. “There was a broad…

“I think Brexit was a colossal mistake,” said former London student Stubb, who has a British wife and children with dual nationality. “I am too diplomatic to express exactly what I think about those who promoted Brexit during the campaign, and those who still say that Brexit is a good thing … But I do think it’s not only shooting yourself in the foot, but it’s like amputating your leg without medical reason for doing it.”  Stubb said he recognized that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not aim to rejoin the EU but argued that Brits and Europeans should…

In a major development for Israel’s campaign against the Iranian regime’s security forces, which now allegedly use schools as hideouts and children for propaganda purposes, the Israeli military announced on Tuesday that it killed the head of the Basij volunteer paramilitary force in a “precise strike” near Tehran. “Yesterday (Monday), the Israeli Air Force, acting on IDF intelligence, targeted and eliminated Gholamreza Soleimani, who operated as commander of the Basij unit for the past six years,” the Israeli military said in a statement. In a post on social media, the IDF said Soleimani has been the Basij forces’ commander for…

The US-Israel attack on Iran has thrown the Middle East’s aviation industry into chaos with regional airspace closures and mass flight cancellations. International airports in Doha, Qatar, and in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE have long been key regional hubs connecting Europe with Asia and Africa. With these airports offering limited flight schedules – and many travellers understandably unwilling to fly through the region – European airlines are having to adapt their schedules. Many carriers are now increasing their direct flight offering to cities across Asia and Africa to accommodate passenger demand. European airlines offering short-term flight increases…