Author: staff
The remains of the former Polska 2050 caucus — also numbering 15 MPs — side with Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, the minister for EU funds and regional policy. Following her win on Jan. 31, the party leadership voted to freeze personnel changes to de-escalate tensions before a March convention. Their former colleagues called the move an attempt to silence them. The turmoil also split Polska 2050’s representation in the Senate and in the European Parliament after MEP Michał Kobosko left the party Monday. Polska 2050 has been in deep crisis since Hołownia’s disastrous 2025 presidential campaign, in which he won less than 5 percent…
Joachim Nagel: The current Bundesbank president is a more emollient figure, but has clashed more than once with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, most recently on the thorny issue of allowing the EU to issue more joint debt. A member of the Social Democratic Party, Merz’s junior partner in Berlin, Nagel may also be more useful to Merz in keeping the SPD onside in the debate over domestic policy than he would be across town at ECB headquarters. Jörg Kukies: Having been finance minister under Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Kukies has all the political connections he might need to secure the job. Although…
According to the letter from USPE, which represents staff working in the Parliament, a security officer working on the gates of the institution’s Brussels building challenged Van Overtveldt as he attempted to enter with his wife, whose entourage pass for family members had expired. “In response to the security staff’s insistence that he should comply with the institutional rules, he asked to see the badge of the security officer in charge in order to identify her, then angrily threw her document on the floor,” the letter to Metsola, dated, Feb. 16, said. “Subsequently, when the security guard asked him to…
“All the algorithms have biases, we know that. There is no doubt,” he said. “And they are so impactful, when you speak about social media, that having no clue about how the algorithm is made, how it is tested and where it will guide you — the democratic biases of this could be huge.” Since returning to office in 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has cast Europe’s tech rules as a threat to America’s free speech tradition. While Brussels has spent the past decade designing legislation to rein in Big Tech through landmark laws like the GDPR, Digital Services…
Under the arrangement, struck last year after months of negotiations, the joint U.S.-U.K. base will remain under the control of both countries for the next 99 years under a lease agreement. But Trump posted Wednesday: “I have been telling Prime Minister Keir Starmer, of the United Kingdom, that Leases are no good when it comes to Countries, and that he is making a big mistake by entering a 100 Year Lease with whoever it is that is ‘claiming’ Right, Title, and Interest to Diego Garcia, strategically located in the Indian Ocean.” The Mauritian government — which has long claimed it was…
Published on 18/02/2026 – 18:13 GMT+1 In the heart of Milan, behind the imposing Sforza Castle, lies a monument to sport, culture and consumerism that’s attracting thousands of people to its doors every day. You might be thinking that’s normal given how the Italian city is playing host to the Winter Olympics and the enormous global circus which that entails. But, The Peak, Coca-Cola’s interactive show, offers a red and white-tinted view of the past and the role the black, sweet sticky stuff – and sugar-free varieties – have played throughout the history of the games. As free exhibitions go,…
BRUSSELS — Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken criticized European leaders for speaking too much about nuclear weapons. “Regarding nuclear deterrence, I really don’t understand why European leaders are so loose-lipped. Not wise. Please keep your mouth shut,” he posted on X, in reply to a podcast interview by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. In the interview, the German leader ruled out the development of a German homegrown nuclear deterrent but said German fighter jets could potentially carry French and U.K. nuclear weapons. Germany and Belgium are both part of the U.S. nuclear sharing agreement and their air forces can carry American nuclear…
La présidence de la BCE est l’un des postes les plus influents d’Europe, commandant une puissance de feu financière sans pareille. C’est pourquoi les gouvernements nationaux se sont toujours battus avec acharnement pour promouvoir une personne favorable à leurs propres besoins et priorités. Les négociations sur la succession de Christine Lagarde risquent d’être intenses et seront encore compliquées par la montée des populistes sur le Vieux Continent, rendant plus difficile pour les partis politiques européens traditionnels de garder la main sur le processus de nomination aux postes clés. Ce problème a été mis en lumière la semaine dernière lorsque le…
Team USA skiers Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, along with Italy’s Federica Brignone, are among the many skiers who have expressed concern during these Olympic Games about the accelerating melt of the world’s glaciers. And Olympic host city Cortina is a fitting place for them to be talking about climate change: glaciers once visible from town have dramatically shrunk. Many have been reduced to tiny glaciers or residual ice patches at high elevations among the jagged peaks of the Dolomites. Any Olympian or spectator wishing to lay eyes on a major glacier would have to take a long drive on…
The previous Conservative government appointed Michael Grade, a Tory peer, as chair in 2022. His term ends on April 26, and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which is leading the recruitment process, hopes to announce his replacement before then. The interview panel, which is made up of civil servants and independent members, will now hand Technology Secretary Liz Kendall a shortlist of approved candidates. Former Conservative Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright is also in the running, according to the same two people quoted above. Wright, one of the architects of the Online Safety Act (OSA), has been critical of…