Europe

There was a vigorous interview on Tuesday morning on a prominent French radio station. The guest was Jean-Philippe Tanguy, a senior MP in Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, and the last question put to him concerned his leader’s impending trial on charges of financial impropriety. Tanguy had on two occasions to remind the presenter to stick to the conditional tense when talking about the charges; his interlocutor made it sound as if Le Pen was guilty until proven innocent. She will be joined the dock in Paris next week by 26 other members of the National Rally, including Louis Aliot, the mayor of Perpignan. They are accused of the misappropriation

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

Russia’s decision to kick out six alleged British spies in August prompted a strange sense of deja vu. After the Salisbury nerve agent attack in March 2018, I sweated for a week in the British Embassy in Moscow, waiting to hear if I’d be kicked out in the diplomatic tit-for-tat. We need a better plan for Russia expertise if we really want to outsmart Putin Russia’s announcement was timed to embarrass Keir Starmer as he travelled to Washington last week for talks with Joe Biden. It was also a blow to the critically small pool of Russia experts in the British government. In the hostile goldfish bowl of UK-Russia relations,

Diane Abbott believes that Giorgia Meloni is a ‘literal fascist’. That must come as a surprise to the 12.3 million voters who elected her prime minister of Italy two years ago. Not to mention King Charles, who hosted Meloni at Blenheim Palace in July. The Right Honourable Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington described Meloni as a fascist as Keir Starmer jetted to Italy this week to meet the country’s leader. ‘What does he hope to learn from her,’ asked Abbott. Perhaps the British premier would like to hear how Meloni has this year reduced immigrant arrivals on Italian territory by 65 per cent. Is this the behaviour of

The spectacular resignation of Thierry Breton from the European Commission suggests that the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is not quite as useless as her numerous critics suggest. Breton’s departure was overdue. Credit to von der Leyen for wielding the long knife. Breton’s arrogance was exceeded only by his uselessness. After Mario Draghi’s taxonomy of European decline last week, the role of Breton as commissioner in charge of the single market was a nonsense. Draghi said Europe is on a path to self-destruction, becoming nothing more than an open-air museum, sustained by tourism. Breton’s arrogance was exceeded only by his uselessness Gavin Mortimer wrote here that Draghi

Sir Keir Starmer, the man often dubbed ‘Mr. Rules’ for his reputation as a stickler for ethical conduct, now finds himself facing an ethics probe over undeclared gifts. The accusations concern luxury suits gifted to Starmer and dresses for his wife, Victoria, reportedly paid for by Lord Alli, a Labour peer and supporter. Starmer’s team failed to declare the gifts given to Lady Starmer, a mistake apparently made after receiving incorrect advice from Downing Street. The suits themselves were declared in line with parliamentary rules, but the same was not true for the dresses. Now, questions are swirling as the Prime Minister scrambles to explain the late declaration. This recalls

Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood and a well-known figure in the Islamic world, has been convicted of the rape and sexual coercion of a woman in a Geneva hotel, after a court overturned an earlier acquittal. Professor Ramadan has been jailed for three years, two suspended, over the 2008 incident. Ramadan was a poster boy for those in authority The verdict marks a remarkable fall from grace for Ramadan, who was raised in exile in Switzerland, and skilfully navigated the Francophone, English and Arabic speaking worlds as an academic, campaigner and theologian. His father, Said Ramadan, was central to the Muslim Brotherhood’s development in Europe.  While Ramadan

Ding ding! It’s not just in Westminster that the debate over illegal migration has got politicians tearing chunks out of each other. Over in Berlin, an emotional Olaf Scholz got up in front of the Bundestag to give his opponents a piece of his mind. The Chancellor’s speech was meant to be about the budget, but soon veered off track onto migration. In front of a room of rowdy, heckling parliamentarians, the Chancellor attacked the CDU leader of the opposition, Friedrich Merz: ‘You are the type of politician who believes that he has solved the migration issue simply with an interview in Bild am Sonntag. That’s not how it works in reality!’

From next week, Germany will enforce controls at its borders once again. The decision, announced by interior minister Nancy Faeser, comes only a little more than a week after the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) achieved major successes in several regional elections. Faeser said that border controls would be applied to tackle irregular immigration as well as to strengthen internal security against the threat of Islamic terrorism and international criminality. These permanent controls will replace the usual spot checks common at borders within the European Union for six months, although it is possible that they could be extended. The government may hit the panic button if the rise of the