Author: staff

The last time Trump was elected, many in the U.S. and around the world took comfort in the idea that Europe would step into the breach. They declared then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel the true leader of the free world — a role immortalized in an iconic G7 photo where’s she’s flanked by the leaders of the world’s major democracies, looming over a sulking Trump. But today, Europe has based its entire security, economic and political strategy on the existence of an American ally that Trump has now declared extinct. However, a major opinion poll conducted by my organization, the European…

Manfred Weber, president of the center-right European People’s Party to which von der Leyen belongs, had previously said the party was opposed to working with any group that wasn’t “pro-Europe … pro-Ukraine … [and] pro-rule of law.” In Meloni’s case, the Brothers of Italy politician has moderated her anti-EU positions since taking power, giving EPP leaders cover. But the same cannot be said for Orbán or Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who embraces Putin and routinely attacks EU ally Ukraine. As for Kickl, diplomats said he is a “strict ideologue” who may prove harder to manage than Orbán, even if…

6. Proportionnelle et banque de la démocratie, l’attachement au pluralisme Plusieurs propositions institutionnelles, défendues de longue date par le candidat Bayrou, ont resurgi dans sa bouche. “Faire un seul peuple, c’est reconnaître que le pluralisme est légitime”, a-t-il ainsi déclaré. Pour aider au financement des partis politiques et des campagnes électorales, le Premier ministre souhaite relancer la création d’une “banque de la démocratie”, une promesse présidentielle de 2017, jamais concrétisée. De même, l’introduction d’une dose de proportionnelle pour les prochaines élections législatives sera étudiée lors d’une “discussion”, dont ni les modalités ou le calendrier n’ont été précisés. 7. Santé :…

“In the last year, using our political power, we managed to prevent this deal from going ahead, time after time.” Israel and Hamas are close to reaching a deal on a ceasefire, according to Qatari mediators. AP reported Jan. 14 that Hamas had accepted the deal. Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking at a joint press conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, said he hoped a deal will be approved and herald peace in the Middle East. “The agreement being finalized in these hours on the ceasefire and hostage release is very important news,” Tajani said, according to the…

Cyrus Vance Jr., former Manhattan district attorney who led a criminal probe into United States President-elect Donald Trump’s business dealings, has joined the Paris branch of global law firm Baker McKenzie. “We are delighted to welcome Cyrus Vance Jr, former Manhattan District Attorney (2010-2021) to Baker McKenzie Paris. He will provide clients with his widely recognized expertise in criminal law, cross-border investigations and compliance,” the company wrote on Tuesday in a post on LinkedIn. Baker McKenzie announced the transfer just days before the U.S. president-elect’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Marie E. Hebert, the firm’s director of global media relations, said…

Another no-confidence vote The real test is further down the line when the 2025 budget bill returns to parliament, which could lead to another vote of no-confidence in late January. It’s likely then that the far right will vote against the government, so Bayrou needs to pick off enough left-wing MPs to survive without alienating the conservatives and Macron’s troops who support the pensions reform. On Sunday, the conservative parliamentary leader Laurent Wauquiez fired a warning shot, threatening to withdraw support for Bayrou’s government, which includes conservatives, if he gave too many concessions to the left. In his speech, Bayrou…

Trump, who has threatened to impose a 60 percent tariff on all Chinese goods, is expected to further antagonize Beijing during his upcoming term and to push the EU to fully decouple its supply chains from China. Hinting at such a summit just days before Trump is inaugurated signals to Washington that the bloc wants to keep its options open toward Beijing. Trade relations between Brussels and Beijing remain tense, however, with the European Commission ruling on Tuesday that China’s market access rules for medical devices are unfair to EU exporters. The decision followed a nine-month probe. The last summit…

Under the terms of the power-sharing agreement, reached after five weeks of closed-door negotiations, Harris — the current caretaker Taoiseach — would become deputy prime minister and would likely succeed Martin as foreign minister. Harris would regain the premiership again in late 2027, replicating a novel arrangement from 2020 that saw the Taoiseach position “rotate” between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Crucial to the new deal is the commitment of seven independent conservative politicians, who have agreed to support a five-year program of government in exchange for seats at the Cabinet table. Their inclusion means the new government will have…

“He gave me a large white box,” Francis writes. “Documents relating to the most difficult and painful situations. Cases of abuse, corruption, dark dealings, wrongdoings.” “Everything is in here,” Francis recalls being told; “now it’s your turn” to deal with it. In the book the pope writes that he has felt “called to take responsibility for all the evil committed by certain priests,” CNN reported. A photograph of the pair sitting with a white box between them fuelled speculation at the time. Francis, previously known as Jorge Bergoglio, uses the new book to tell the story of his youth in…

‘If there is an option to build a coalition with EPP and with the Patriots of Europe we can do so,’ former Polish Prime Minister told journalists. Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was elected as President of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Party on Tuesday in Brussels, replacing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. ECR, includes right-wing Brothers of Italy, Polish Law and Justice, and Romanian AUR among its 12 European member parties, and the US Republican Party and Israel’s Likud among its seven “global partners”.The party congress also elected the Italian Carlo Fidanza (Brothers of Italy), France’s Marion…