Orbรกnโs Fidesz party proposes Russia-style crackdown on Hungaryโs civil society
The new bill fits into a pattern of democratic backsliding for the Central European country.
public opinion
Europe cannot remain on the sidelines in Gaza
The bloc’s failure to step up carries serious geopolitical costs.
The conclave happens behind closed doors. World leaders are still meddling.
With nudges and winks, governments are trying to influence who becomes the next pope. Whether they’ll succeed is up to 133 holy men.
Democratic backsliding in Europe holds lessons for America
Authoritarians’ early popularity can delay resistance โ but thatโs when the real damage gets done.
Longtime US allies say they have ways to fight back against Trump, and theyโll use them
Plans are being drawn up and, as one EU diplomat said, โWeโll take decisions to protect ourselves.โ
Americans pan some of Trumpโs biggest foreign policy moves in new poll
Data released shows skepticism about foreign policy and tariff strategy.
How Kyivโs effort to lure Trump with rare earths backfired
Ukraine potentially has large deposits of crucial minerals, but it will take peace and billions of dollars to unlock them.
For the British, war remains ancient history
‘Europeans, war and peace’ (Part 4 of 7). In the United Kingdom, the army enjoys the prestige acquired during the two world wars, but it is concerned about theย threat of a new war, a threat perceived as distant by public opinion.
Le Pen family member heads to Israel for historic first official visit
The trip could serve as a watershed moment for Marine Le Pen’s party, which has sought to dispel accusations of antisemitism.
Meet the Czech Millennial Whoโs Building a Utopia in the California Hayfields
Armed with tech billions, Jan Sramek has dreams of creating a new, affordable, walkable city. If, that is, California lets him.
European leaders warn Putinโs talk of peace is a mirage
Allies voice deep skepticism as Trump and Putin hold a 90-minute call.
Greeceโs Mitsotakis reshuffles government as public opinion turns against him
Still, the future of Greek politics remains bleak.
Top Trump allies hold secret talks with Zelenskyyโs Ukrainian opponents
As Washington ramps up its pressure on Zelenskyy to step aside, his rivals are talking to Trump’s team.
Can Ukraine-US relations be repaired?
After the surreal Oval Office brawl, strenuous efforts are under way to try to repair some of the damage.
Three years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe weakened by anti-system and far-right movements
The military deadlock, fatigue of public opinion and fear of escalation are all working in Moscow’s favor, to the detriment of Europe, at a time when the latter is being abandoned by its American ally. A fault line is opening up on the continent betwee…
Macron meets Trump, Europeans head to Kyiv in two-pronged effort to save Ukraine
European leaders hope to reverse Trumpโs retreat from Europe and Ukraineโs dire prospects.
On Ukraine, Macron attempts to prepare public opinion for an unprecedented war effort
The president had gathered political leaders at the Elysรฉe on Thursday to discuss the geopolitical context, now rocked by Donald Trump’s rapprochement with Russia, before flying to Washington on Sunday.
Hereโs what Nigel Farageโs voters really think about UK help for Ukraine
Reform UK voters are more likely than Labour and Tories to favor a cut in British support for Kyiv if Trump pulls back, according to new polling.
Angry farmers push Poland away from Ukraine
After nearly three years of war in Ukraine, protests by Polish farmers are opening up social and political fractures in a once-unshakeable alliance.
Britain dances to JD Vanceโs tune as it recasts AI security institute
After the U.S. VP blasted โhand-wringing about safety,โ Britainโs safety institute gets a new look. References to AI creating โunequal outcomesโ are out.
Macron picks close ally to lead court that could decide Le Penโs fate
Richard Ferrand’s appointment drew criticism even before being made official.
UK Labour steals from the Rudy Giuliani playbook
Giuliani touted a “broken windows” push on low-level crime as New York mayor. Britain’s center-left government needs a similar win.
Bulgaria shies away from asking for final clearance to join eurozone
Meanwhile, public opinion in Bulgaria remains divided over the introduction of the euro.
The post Bulgaria shies away from asking for final clearance to join eurozone appeared first on Euractiv.
Gaza cease-fire: The view from Israel
Israelis are supportive of the deal, but they canโt help but ask why it was necessary for additional hostages, soldiers and civilians to die before leaders finally took action?
Elon Muskโs โNaziโ salute sparks fury from Europeโs left wing
Lawmakers and media pour scorn on the key adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Liz Truss threatens to sue Keir Starmer for saying she blew up Britain
Former prime minister says claims she “crashed the economy” are “grossly defamatory and indefensible.”
What California can learn from the place that invented the initiative
Our California ballot-measure reporter heads to Switzerland on the 150th anniversary of its first federal referendum to see what a state mad about direct democracy can take away from the country that devised i
Jimmy Carter: The last progressive evangelical
The former president embodied a strain of Christianity that emphasized caring for those on the margins โ but was eclipsed by the Religious Right.
Europeโs slow but โinevitableโ march to allow assisted dying
The U.K. is the latest country to move toward legalizing the controversial yet evermore popular practice.
World War III is already underway. In Ukraine.
Three years in, Russiaโs invasion has drawn in dozens of countries.
Majority of Brexit voters โwould accept free movementโ to access single market
Europe-wide polling finds UK and EU leaders now out of step with public opinion and pursue โambitious resetโA majority of Britons who voted to leave the EU would now accept a return to free movement in exchange for access to the single market, accordin…
I regret none of the climate policies we pushed in Ireland. But we underestimated the backlash | Eamon Ryan
From rural buses to solar panels, our Green agenda has been transformative. Yet, vested interests and big polluters helped to poison the well of public thinkingEamon Ryan was Irish Green party leader from 2011 to 2024Irelandโs Green party went into gov…
South Korean president declares martial law in shock late-night address
President Yoon Suk Yeol said the move was โaimed at eradicating pro-North Korean forces.”
Trumpโs effect on the Middle East
For good or ill, Trump is already shaping the calculations of combatants in the region, but much depends on how Hezbollahโs bosses in Tehran proceed.
Trump threatens to be good for Ukraine, actually
Thereโs secret relief in some European quarters โ and even Kyiv โ that Donald Trump might bring the war to a close. And heโs far more likely to get a better deal from Moscow.
Ukraineโs MPs hopeful Donald Trumpโs victory โnot a catastropheโ for war effort
Complexity of negotiating with Putin may benefit Kyiv with US defence and security appointments criticalUkrainian politicians are expressing tentative hopes that the return of Donald Trump to the White House will not necessarily lead to a rapid and hum…
Spanish flood outrage exposes political divide, distrust of ruling class
With hundreds dead and Spaniards turning on their leaders, parallels are being drawn with the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
โTexas is the stage and the audience is the battlegroundsโ: Why Harris is barnstorming the Lone Star State
The vice president is making Texas a focal point in the abortion-rights debate.
Unquiet on the Eastern front: Why Brussels is losing to Moscow
In countries seeking to join the EU, the European Dream is running into the Russian fist.
Republican electric car attacks crash into Democratsโ closing message
In Michigan, New York, Montana and elsewhere, Republicans have seized on Biden administration electric vehicle policies.
Georgiaโs pivot to Russia โmight be a plan,โ president says
Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili faces a second impeachment attempt over her visits to European capitals.
โIsolatedโ France faces political storm over EU-South American trade deal
An already weakened Macron risks outrage from farmers as the rest of the EU races to get Mercosur deal done. ย
100 days of Starmer: How Labourโs big win went off the rails
After just a few months in office, the new British government is finding life tough.
How the Israel-Hamas war sidelined other world hot spots
Every administration has to readjust to respond to world events, but the Israel-Hamas conflict has been particularly disruptive to Bidenโs other foreign policy efforts.
Emmanuel Macronโs last stand
The French leader was able to stall a Latin American trade deal in January. With negotiators again closing in on an agreement, he will struggle to repeat that feat.
Russia recruited an Irish agent to exploit Brexit tensions. Heโs still sitting in Irelandโs parliament.
Officials tell POLITICO Russia used a honeytrap to persuade the unidentified opposition lawmaker to push anti-NATO messages, and liaise with extremists in Northern Ireland.
How Bidenโs week from hell ended on a high
The president went from mired in crisis on Monday to an unexpected Friday victory lap.
Some Men in London โ a magnificent history of postwar gay life and moral panic
Peter Parkerโs two-volume anthology is a meticulous portrait of prejudice and the gradual shifting of public opinion
Emmanuel Macronโs lonely battle to defend the EU-Canada trade deal
French lawmakers, and even Macronโs new ministers, want to stop CETA โย but that doesnโt mean they will be able to.
Pirates jump ship: Czech ruling coalition loses a member
PM Petr Fiala’s coalition now only has a four-seat majority in the 200-member Prague parliament.
Czech government in disarray after poor election results
Regional elections have shaken the current coalition and may lead to further cabinet resignations.
What the new French government means for Brussels
With both president and prime minister vying for control in the policy domain, the political picture could look somewhat different.
Liz Truss lettuce songs and jet ski stunts: Britainโs third party is living its best life
Jubilant Liberal Democrats are celebrating after years in the political wilderness โ but can it last?
โNobody in Politics Is Able to Say Itโ: The Truth About Latino Voters
A top political strategist explains how the Latino vote is shifting.
The other European proxy war
Serbia gets pulled โ and pulls itself โ sharply between East and West. Where it ends up will help decide which Great Power emerges triumphant.
US announces new crackdown on Russian disinformation in 2024 election
The U.S. Justice Department has seized more than 30 web domains that it said were part of a broader, ongoing, surreptitious effort by the Russian government to influence the 2024 U.S. election and American public opinion, federal authorities announced Wednesday.
UK arms-sale ban wonโt make any difference to war, says former Israeli PM
Ehud Olmert tells POLITICOโs Power Play podcast that Israel’s allies should instead focus on lack “of any political horizon or end game strategy” from Benjamin Netanyahu.
Justin Trudeau loses governing partner
Progressive NDP says Liberals are โtoo weak, too selfishโ to take on Canadaโs Conservatives.
Wounded Scottish nationalists fight to save independence dream
The SNP met in Edinburgh for the first time since July’s disastrous election result.
How Republicans and Democrats paint starkly different pictures of America
This summerโs conventions featured strongly diverging visions of the future โ and the present.
Talk of peace deals in the Levant, Ukraine is for the birds
Exhaustion and want โ the two key ingredients for successful peace talks โ are as absent in Kyiv as they are in the Middle East.
The crazy life and times of Pavel Durov, Russiaโs Elon Musk
Is the arrested Telegram CEO a free speech martyr or a shadowy criminal?
Greece โ the country that lets people escape justice
Cover-ups, botched investigations and a general feeling of impunity set alarm bells ringing.
European commissioner nomineeย pickย signals Greeceโs rightward turn
PM’s choice of Apostolos Tzitzikostas could raise the temperature of simmering resentments between Greece and North Macedonia.
Whatโs driving Kamala Harrisโ surge in the polls
Harris has made eye-popping gains with traditional, core Democratic base voters while also appealing to independents.
The Saudi Crown Prince is Talking About An Assassination. His Own.
Many people want to kill the Saudi leader, but is he using such threats as a means to get the U.S. to pressure Israel on a future Palestinian state?
โAmbitious girlโ: How Kamala Harrisโ niece turned political proximity into a budding business empire
Meena Harris has leveraged her special bond with her aunt to create a sprawling personal brand from scratch.
Russiaโs new punching bag: Kamala Harris
While the Kremlin is playing it cool, its army of propagandists is rolling out its full racist and sexist arsenal.
Biden drops out: European leaders react
Responses by politicians ranged from respect and gratitude to derision.
Why a disillusioned, angry Britain voted for change
A tour of Britain’s provincial towns reveals a restless nation with no love for its political class.
How the Tory election campaign melted down in six disastrous weeks
Rishi Sunak played a bad hand appallingly โ and paid a terrible price.
How Trump Republicans really feel about NATO
Like much the state of American politics itself, support for the alliance โ though solid overall โ is becoming increasingly polarized.
The Media Establishment Lays on the Horn: Joe Must Go
Calls for President Biden to step aside after a poor debate give new life to old resentments.
Italyโs Tajani urges EPP to ally with ECR, not the Greens
In todayโs edition of the Capitals, find out more about Germanyโs Scholz worried about shifting public opinion on Ukraine support, Poland consdering to close its border with Belarus, and so much more.
Germanyโs Scholz worried about shifting public opinion on Ukraine support
The rise of populists in the former East Germany in the European elections is linked to growing opposition to support for Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz admitted on Sunday, insisting there was no alternative to maintaining aid.
Pope Francis has lost control of his liberal revolution
Trouble is brewing in the very regions that cradled the 16th-century Protestant Reformation.
How Britainโs Conservatives lost their heart and soul
Trends point to an historic collapse of the Tory vote in rural, semi-rural and suburban seats, the like of which England has maybe never seen before.
EU Media Freedom Act: the convolutions of the new legislation
Samira Asmaa Allioui,
research and tutorial fellow at the Centre d’รฉtudes internationales et
europรฉennes de l’Universitรฉ de Strasbourg
Photo credit: Bin im Garten, via Wikimedia
Commons
Journalists are under pressure in
differ…
Romanian far-right leader investigated for EU election fraud
George Simion, the head of a far-right party, allegedly asked his staff to forge signatures.
All politics is local: What the EU election is actually about in each country
When EU voters head to the polls later this week, one thing is certain: Almost none of them will be thinking of Europe when they cast their ballot.ย A plethora of studies โ and sky-high abstention rates โ show that most of the blocโs citizens neither understand nor care about the European Parliament vote. Because [โฆ]
Will Trumpโs guilty verdict hurt him? Read this story (not the polls).
Donald Trump is in uncharted territory. The full effect of the verdict wonโt sink in overnight.
Weโre on the Cusp of a Trump Verdict. Hereโs What Our Insiders Think.
POLITICO reporters inside the courtroom dissect the latest crucial moments before a verdict arrives.
Demography: The ticking time bomb threatening Europeโs democracy
The question is, what can be done to bolster support for democracy among Europeโs youth before itโs too late?
How a doctor, sailor and lecturer changed Europeโs assisted dying debate
Moves to legalise euthanasia are gathering pace and public opinion in many countries is now in favour of reformDutch woman, 29, granted euthanasia approval on grounds of mental sufferingThe case of Zoraya ter Beek comes at a time when moves to legalise…
North Macedoniaโs EU aspirations face bumpy ride after elections
A new administration risks rekindling old tensions with Bulgaria and Greece โ which can both throw up major obstacles to Skopje.
UK Conservatives try to win City of Londonโs heart with swipe at finance watchdog
Labour wants to ‘champion’ Britain’s financial sector โ but doesn’t want to be seen as undermining independent regulators.
Is the dream of Scottish independence over?
How the seemingly inexorable journey to an independent Scotland ground to a halt.
The EU need not be scared by aviation climate action
While debates about farming and heat pumps have brought some climate policy debates to a standstill in Brussels, new public opinion research shows how action on aviation could represent a new way forward for climate and the EU, writes Ed Hodgson
Big, bold and unchecked: Russian influence operation thrives on Facebook
Pro-Kremlin network “Doppelganger” is buying Facebook ads to spread divisive content on social media site ahead of EU election.
How people view AI, disinformation and elections โ in charts
Polls worldwide show an apprehension toward the emerging tech โ and gaps in understanding how it works and its impact on election-related falsehoods.
Europe argues โ and prays โ for a measured response from Israel
The U.K. and France are joining forces to call on Israel to show restraint.
The Guardian view on Europeโs troubled green deal: make the case, not concessions | Editorial
Leaders need to persuade others of the need for environmental measures rather than capitulate in the face of political headwindsLast month, a survey of public opinion in Germany, France and Poland found that a majority in each country would support mor…
Trump used to brag about his support for Israel. Now his criticisms are growing sharper.
โI donโt know why they released wartime shots like that. I guess it makes them look tough. But to me, it doesnโt make them look tough,โ Trump said.
Russiagate hits German far right
AfD lawmaker under pressure to say whether he received payment from pro-Russian network.
Is the UK election already over?ย
With the polls stubbornly refusing to turn, is there anything Rishi Sunak can do to move the dial and avoid electoral wipeout?
Trump says Israel should โfinish upโ Gaza war
The former president did not touch on Israelโs proposed invasion of Rafah or a postwar peace plan for Gaza.
Ireland moves to allow assisted dying
A committee recommended assisted dying for people with an incurable disease and just six months to live, or those with 12 months if they have a neurodegenerative condition.
Vladimir Putin claims landslide Russian election victory
Russian president uses victory speech to say war in Ukraine and strengthening military will be his main tasksVladimir Putin has claimed a landslide victory in Russiaโs presidential vote, as thousands in the country and around the world protested agains…
Reuters reveals Trump ordered trolling campaign against China
Two years into office, President Donald Trump authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to launch a clandestine campaign on Chinese social media aimed at turning public opinion in China against its government, according to an exclusive report by Reuters.
Hawkish Macron refuses to back down on possibility of Western troops in Ukraine
The French president refused to set limits on a response to Moscow in a TV interview meant to win over the public to his strategy.