There are 12 elections set to shake up Europe in 2025. And there’s also one still unknown quantity in France

Voters in several European countries, including a number of EU member states, will go to the polls at various points this year, including the Portuguese for municipal elections. We highlight the 12 votes that could prove most significant on the continent, for their potential for surprise or the lack of it, plus one more that […]

“Macron resigning would be handing the keys to the asylum over to the inmates.” So: “We’re going to have one or two more governments and then elections in 07/25”

Macron is preparing to announce the next head of government. Lecornu or Bayrou are likely names, Gérald Darmanin less so: “I know from a reliable source that he doesn’t want to risk damaging his reputation” “We are capable of great things… we can do the impossible,” the President said in an address broadcast on state […]

France has fallen into political instability because of “two extremist parties.” So what now for Macron?

For the first time in more than 60 years, the French parliament has brought down a government. With the Constitution barring new legislative elections before July, and Barnier unavailable to stay on in a caretaker capacity, the president must appoint a new figure to head a caretaker government capable, in the immediate term, of finalising […]

EU says Orban doesn’t represent bloc in Georgia

“Viktor Orban is clear that he wants more authoritarian, anti-democratic, pro-Russian actors in the European political sphere,” said Julien Hoez, the editor of The French Dispatch and a geopolitical consultant. Hoez said he believed that the European Union might draft a unified condemnation at an upcoming meeting. “There’s an informal council on 8 November in Budapest that […]

“He was a rival to her”: how to explain Thierry Breton’s surprise dismissal from the von der Leyen Commission

The bad relations between Thierry Breton and his president [of the Commission] were widely known. The commissioner also underlined in his farewell letter the “recent developments” that pointed to “yet another dubious display of governance.” “There has always been plenty of conflict and friction between the two of them. In the European bubble, among pro-Ursula […]

How the European Parliament helps normalize the far right

Not all parties in the ECR are considered far-right, but the dominance of the Brothers of Italy has some lawmakers and political analysts concerned. Julien Hoez, editor of a politics newsletter and EU affairs consultant, said the ECR is split between those who are just “euroskeptic right wingers [and] those who are more toxic far-right […]

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