German MEP Sven Giegold has given his take on last week’s farewell visit by Chancellor Angela Merkel to France’s President Emmanuel Macron. The MEP, speaker of the German Greens in the European Parliament, commented, “Under Merkel, there was both stagnation and progress in the Franco-German tandem. A ray of hope for Franco-German cooperation was the initiative for…
A major pan-European polling round, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) asked citizens of the EU’s 12 most important member states for their thoughts on German leadership within the EU-27, both retrospectively, with regards the Merkel-era, and how they see Germany’s representation in Europe changing beyond this week’s elections. The findings include: There is enduring support in Europe for Angela Merkel…
Europeans still regard Angela Merkel, who will shortly step down as German chancellor, as a unifying force, and expect Germany to continue to provide leadership within the EU, according to new polling in a report published on Tuesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). In “Beyond Merkelism: What Europeans expect of post-election Germany”, the…
Today, trust between the West and Russia is at its lowest level in recent history. Experts compare the current confrontation with the Cuban missile crisis. However, now the rhetoric and threats from the top leadership of the opposing sides have reached such an intensity that the timidly discussed possibility of a war between Russia and…
Yesterday (Tuesday 10th November) Chancellors Merkel and Kurz and President Macron held an online summit on the implications of the latest Islamist terrorist attacks in France and Austria. They agreed that they wanted to work on reforms for the Schengen area, which consists of Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland,…
EPP Group MEPs Sven Simon, Christian Ehler and Christian Doleschal, together with a number of top scientists have sent a letter to the commission and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, pleading with them to reject the drastic cuts to European research funds, as part of an agreement on the 7-year-EU-budget and the Recovery Fund. The letter was initiated…
The Council issued a statement after this week’s EU/China video conference. Council President Charles Michel stated, “I’m pleased that we could speak by video conference with President Xi, with Ursula von der Leyen and Chancellor Angela Merkel. Unfortunately, our physical meeting in Leipzig wasn’t possible. Europe needs to be a player, not a playing field….
Martin Banks interviews Olivier Védrine Chief Editor of the Russian Monitor about Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also speaks about the case of Alexei Anatolievich Navalny, a Russian politician and anti-corruption activist who came to international prominence by organising demonstrations, and running for office, to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, Russian President Putin, and…
A plane has left Germany to pick up Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is in a coma in hospital after a suspected poisoning attack, and transfer him from Siberia to Berlin for treatment, the Cinema for Peace Foundation said. The foundation’s activists had arranged for Pussy Riot member Pyotr Verzilov to be treated in Berlin after…
President Ursula von der Leyen has discussed over the phone with the President of the European Parliament David Sassoli and with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as chair of the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, about the next steps in the adoption of the EU’s recovery package NextGenerationEU and the next Multiannual Financial Framework….
