Europe

‘Now it’s official,’ the German press lamented, ‘the idiot’s apostrophe is correct.’ The Council for German Orthography, the body that regulates German spelling and grammar, has relaxed the rules on when and how apostrophes can be used to show possession. What seems like a matter for grammar pedants has fuelled angst for the very future of the German language. The issue itself isn’t new. Unlike English, German doesn’t traditionally use apostrophes to show possession. So Uncle Tom’s Cabin, for example, becomes Onkel Toms Hütte in the German translation. But this rule has long been eroded. It’s common to find places like ‘Tina’s Wolllädchen’ – ‘Tina’s Little Wool Shop’ – which

After the binge, the bill? The new French government of Michel Barnier presented the main lines of its proposed 2025 budget on Thursday evening, promising to cut public spending by £50 billion while raising taxes across the board. It’s belated austerity for a state with a fiscal policy that has previously resembled dine and dash.  The intention is to reduce the deficit to 5 per cent of GDP next year, before trying to go below 3 per cent in 2029. Meanwhile, France’s debt of 3.3 trillion Euros will increase.   This is a punishment beating for the most successful and productive companies and individuals in France Like one of those

Emmanuel Macron has chosen to mark the first anniversary of Hamas’ murderous attack on Israel on 7 October by criticising their response. In a radio interview, the president of France announced that ‘the priority today is to return to a political solution, to stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza’. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called the remarks shameful and said it was a ‘disgrace’ to call for an arms embargo on Israel. 1,600 French Jews have emigrated from France to Israel in the last year The distinguished French Jewish writer and philosopher, Bernard-Henri Levy, said on Sunday that he was ‘saddened and shocked’ by his president’s comments, particularly given

Germany has voted to oppose a proposal by the European Commission to introduce additional tariffs on electric cars imported from China. This was no surprise: in the days leading up to today’s meeting, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and other government officials in Berlin had made clear that they had instructed the country’s representative not to vote in favour of such tariffs, widely described as ‘punitive’. Alongside Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Malta and Slovenia voted against the introduction of the tariffs. A majority of states representing at least 65 per cent of the population in the EU – or 14 of the bloc’s members states – would have been needed to stop

Prime Minister Michel Barnier addressed parliament on Tuesday afternoon as he outlined his government’s policy programme. The priority, explained Barnier, was to tackle France’s ‘colossal’ debt of 3.2 trillion (£2.7 trillion) euros, which has left the Republic with the ‘sword of Damocles hanging over the head of France and every French person’.  The gravity of the crisis still doesn’t seem to be getting through to many MPs, who continue to behave like spoiled brats Barnier declared his intention to reduce the public deficit from 6 per cent of GDP to 5 per cent by next year, and to 3 per cent by 2029 – two years beyond the 2027 deadline

The opening of a regional parliament doesn’t usually make for edge-of-the-seat politics. But in the German state of Thuringia, the first session of newly elected MPs descended into such unsavoury chaos that some commentators now fear for German democracy itself. A few weeks ago, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) won the Thuringian parliamentary election, making it the first significant far-right victory in Germany since the Nazis. All other political parties agreed to uphold their cordon sanitaire around the AfD, but the first parliamentary session on Thursday showed that the democratic system isn’t designed to isolate the election winner. Picture Corbyn and Braverman drafting a history curriculum together for an idea of

Olaf Scholz can’t catch a break. The German chancellor started the week on a high after his SPD party won the state elections in Brandenburg by the skin of their teeth. But any illusion that Scholz had won a reprieve from criticism has been brutally crushed. Just one in five Germans think Scholz should run for chancellor again at next year’s election, according to a poll published this week. Worse, Germans have a clear idea of who they’d like to replace him with: defence minister Boris Pistorius. Two thirds of Germans want Scholz to renounce his candidacy for chancellor and allow Pistorius to step into his shoes, according to a

In a country that has become accustomed to atrocities in the last decade, the brutal murder of a 19-year-old student has outraged France. The body of the young woman, named only as Philippine, was discovered last Saturday in the Bois de Boulogne, a famous park in the west of Paris. She had gone missing on Friday afternoon, shortly after eating lunch in her university canteen.  ‘I want to speak out to warn women that we are no longer safe in France, even in a neighbourhood we think is safe’ On Tuesday evening, the authorities in Geneva, acting on information provided by French police, arrested a man as he arrived on

To the surprise of nobody and the disappointment of only a few, the Irish government has finally accepted reality and dropped its hugely controversial plans to introduce stringent hate speech legislation. Under its original proposal, the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hate and Hatred Offences) Bill 2022 was so broad that it made Scotland’s much derided hate crime Act look like a manifesto for free speech by comparison. The proposed law, first introduced by Justice Minister Helen McEntee in November 2022, was always a divisive piece of legislation. It was condemned by many because it looked as if it been drafted by a committee of rabid social justice warriors

Emmanuel Macron’s new government marks, in the words of the BBC, ‘a decisive shift to the right’. That is also the view of Le Monde, the newspaper of the French left, which quotes Socialist party chairman Oliver Faure’s description of it as ‘a reactionary government that gives democracy the finger’. This government is not right wing. To quote Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally, ‘this “new” government marks the return of Macronism through a back door.’ Eighteen of the 39 ministers are Macronists including those responsible for education, finance, foreign affairs, Europe and defence. Another presidential loyalist is Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the minister for ecological transition, who hates Marine Le