Author: staff

“For the first time, they are perfectly even” in polls, said Frédéric Dabi, director general at polling firm IFOP. Le Pen and Bardella both attained 31 percent of voting intentions for the first round of the presidential election in a survey published this week — even if such figures must be taken with a large grain of salt two years before the actual contest. The fact that voters are seemingly fine with swapping Le Pen for Bardella is bound to ruffle feathers in the National Rally, given the party’s history under Le Pen’s iron-fisted father, Jean-Marie, and the internecine battle…

The 27 EU nations have yet to agree a mandate for taking forward the next stage of talks, with governments divided over how much they should cooperate with external allies on procurement. Anne Fort, deputy head of cabinet for defense at the European Commission, told a defense conference in London Friday: “If we want the industry to be part of SAFE … we will also have to define a financial contribution that the U.K. will have to make.” The U.K. will also need to say whether it wants both big companies and smaller suppliers to be allowed to take part,…

Sports Commissioner Glenn Micallef condemned the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and said the sporting world needs to speak up. “When it comes to sports, I think there should be no space in sporting events for those who do not share our values,” he told POLITICO without naming Israel directly, in response to a question as to whether the country should face sporting sanctions over the Gaza war. “Sport is a tool that we use to promote peace, through which we promote human rights.” “On the other hand, the sport movement is autonomous, and they make their own decisions,” Micallef…

Friedrich Merz will mehr – deutlich mehr: 5 Prozent des BIP für Verteidigung und verteidigungsrelevante Infrastruktur. Damit überholt er Olaf Scholz nicht nur rhetorisch, sondern legt das nächste Kapitel der „Zeitenwende“ auf – mit enormen Konsequenzen für die Bundeswehr und den Haushalt. Gordon Repinski analysiert, was hinter dem 5-Prozent-Ziel steckt.Rixa Fürsen hat exklusiv die neue Prioritätenliste der Bundeswehr gesehen: Im Fokus stehen Flugabwehr, Präzisionswaffen und Munitionsvorräte. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview warnt Claudia Major (German Marshall Fund) vor blindem Zahlenfetischismus – und fordert ein Umdenken: Nicht die Milliarden zählen, sondern was am Ende einsatzbereit ist-Zum Schluss: Bücher aus der Bibliothek des Parlaments rund…

Published on 26/05/2025 – 6:12 GMT+2In an emotional tribute on Sunday afternoon, tennis legend Rafael Nadal was honoured during a ceremony at the Roland Garros tournament in Paris. The record 14-time French Open winner, who officially retired in November, returned to the court not as a competitor but as a celebrated legend. Greeted by thousands of fans wearing orange “Merci Rafa” shirts, Nadal received a standing ovation as he stepped onto the clay one final time. No longer in his signature headband or capri pants, the Spaniard arrived in a dark suit, visibly moved by the outpouring of affection.As the…

There’s just one hitch: EU rules technically prevent countries from handing industries cash like that. The idea is to stop richer countries like Germany from splashing government cash on companies that smaller and more cash-strapped nations will not be able to do, creating unfair distortions in the EU market. “There is no way Brussels will allow that without a fight,” said Oliver Bretz, who heads boutique firm Euclid Law and advises, among others, Romania’s energy-intensive industry association. Yet the EU is increasingly bending its own rules in a post-pandemic world, anxious to juice its stagnant economy and not fall behind…

Trump’s criticism of the Russian president raises the prospect that the mood has shifted against Putin in the U.S. administration, which initially took a more sympathetic approach to Moscow’s position in the war. Trump has repeatedly blamed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for starting the conflict and for prolonging it, even though Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022. The weekend’s immense attack on Ukraine, just a week after Trump and Putin held a two-hour call to discuss a U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire, appears to have escalated the American president’s ire. “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin…

Published on 26/05/2025 – 3:28 GMT+2US President Donald Trump said he is “not happy with what Putin’s doing,” speaking in reaction to Russia’s wave of consecutive strikes on Ukraine over the weekend. “He’s killing a lot of people. And I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One in Morristown in New Jersey, as the US President prepared to return to Washington. “I’ve known him a long time. Always gotten along with him. But he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people. And I didn’t like it at all,” Trump said, adding…

Published on 26/05/2025 – 1:47 GMT+2Spain hosted European and Arab countries for high-level talks in Madrid on Sunday, in an effort to pressure Israel to stop its military offensive in Gaza and move forward with a two-state solution.“The only interest that all of us who are gathered here today… is to stop this unjust, cruel, inhumane war by Israel in Gaza, to break the blockade of humanitarian aid and to move definitively towards a two-state solution,” Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, told media ahead of the meeting of 20 countries. Albares referred to Gaza as an “open…

Last year’s election saw the FPÖ win the most votes but remain excluded from government. Human rights groups warn that the Austrian government is exaggerating migration problems to justify crackdowns, including curbs on family reunification. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), UNHCR and UNICEF have recently jointly expressed concern over Vienna’s suspension of family reunification for asylum seekers, highlighting potential violations of children’s rights. Stocker, who initially denounced FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl as a threat to democracy and national security, now argues that mainstream parties must handle the far right on their own terms, rejecting the idea of a political…