EU Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt: Brexit is an opportunity to pull Europe closer together
The European Union Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator on Monday said Britain’s decision to make a clean break from the EU was an opportunity to reform Europe and avoid a further breakdown in ties between its remaining member states. Former Belgian Prime Minister and member of the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt also said the election of […]
Europe gets ready for Donald Trump
JUST over a year ago Barack Obama decided that the European Union needed his help. His advisers devised a strategy to bolster America’s European allies, incorporating transatlantic visits, political theatre and pep talks. Mr Obama talked of the dangers of Brexit in London and invited Matteo Renzi, Italy’s ill-starred prime minister, to Washington to back […]
Britain again breaks ranks with Europe — this time over Israel
Two days after delegates from more than 70 nations attended the Paris summit on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is clear that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was wrong to label the meeting “useless.” Admittedly the France-initiated event, which neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority attended, did not change the international community’s understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian […]
Rise in numbers of Jews leaving for Israel from some European countries
Some European countries have seen an increase in the number of Jews leaving to live in Israel but the numbers fall short of an “exodus”, according to a new study. The Institute of Jewish Policy Research compared recent trends of Jewish migration with cases of mass migration in response to persecution or major political upheavals […]
In annual address to diplomats, Pope Francis calls for renewed ‘idea of Europe’
In 1957, six European nations agreed on a single economic market that laid the groundwork for the European Union, bringing together a continent that in the previous decade had been shattered by total war. On Monday, some sixty years after those six countries signed Treaty of Rome, Pope Francis reminded diplomats of the agreement’s importance as […]
Berlin attack shows the limits of security intelligence
The Christmas market truck assault in Berlin, which has left 12 dead and dozens injured, is a disturbing echo of the truck-borne attack on Bastille Day celebrants on the Nice promenade in July. How could such events be allowed to happen? Why weren’t intelligence agencies in Germany and France able to stay one step ahead […]
EU’s highest court delivers blow to UK snooper’s charter
“General and indiscriminate retention” of emails and electronic communications by governments is illegal, the EU’s highest court has ruled, in a judgment that could trigger challenges against the UK’s new Investigatory Powers Act – the so-called snooper’s charter. Only targeted interception of traffic and location data in order to combat serious crime – including terrorism […]
Trump links Islamist terrorists with Berlin attack
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Monday condemned the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin that killed 12 people, saying that “Islamist terrorists” were responsible for it. “ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad,” Trump said in a statement quoted by […]
Benjamin Netanyahu accepts Paris invite to meet Abbas, if France drops conference
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday accepted French President François Hollande’s invitation to meet with him and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris later this month, as long as there is no international conference. The French are planning a conference of foreign ministers in Paris on December 21 to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and […]
A New Wave of Popular Fury Could Hit Europe in 2017
For Europe, 2016 has brought a series of political shocks: near-record numbers of immigrants arriving from the Middle East and Africa; a vote by Britain to leave the European Union and renewed threats by Russia to meddle on the continent. But 2017 could be even bumpier. There will be at least three elections in Europe […]