Tag: Business and competition
The von der Leyen Commission’s half-time scorecard – POLITICO
If Ursula von der Leyen’s five-year term can be likened to a soccer match, her team is heading for the half-time break with the scores even and a few bruised shins (mostly from self-inflicted errors).
It’s been a wild ride.
When they took the field in December 2019, von der Leyen’s squad of commissioners envisioned a diplomatic offensive in which Brussels would sneak a few goals past its chief geopolitical counterparts, China and the United States. Tactically, the formation was
12 Germans who got played by Putin – POLITICO
Press play to listen to this article
BERLIN — Russia’s war against Ukraine has thrust Germany’s establishment into the throes of a tortured process of introspection, self-doubt and recrimination.
After years of lecturing the West that a bit of Ostpolitik was all that was needed to keep Russia in check, Germany’s political, media and academic elites are now obsessing over a new question: How could we have been so wrong?
Rarely has a country’s confidence about itself and its place
All the French president’s men (and one woman) – POLITICO
Press play to listen to this article
Illustrations by Antony Hare for POLITICO
PARIS — Call them Emmanuel Macron’s praetorian guard.
As the French president prepares to seek reelection in April, he has turned to a select group of close advisers to help him in the battles ahead.
While Macron likes to hold court and seek input from a wide variety of sources, when it comes to strategic decisions, he relies on a small number of longtime loyalists, eschewing professional
When it comes to diplomacy, Wolfgang Ischinger means business – POLITICO
MUNICH
It was the kind of tense moment that Wolfgang Ischinger was born to defuse. The veteran German diplomat and chairman of the annual Munich Security Conference was hosting a meeting between leaders from the Balkans and senior European and American diplomats when anger bubbled up over the slow progress countries from the region were making toward joining the European Union.
“You have to tell us if you want us or not,” Serbian President Aleksandar
Europe remembers its forgotten war – POLITICO
Press play to listen to this article
PISKY, Ukraine — Machine gun fire pulsed in the distance as Elgard, a 23-year-old junior lieutenant in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, walked a muddy road lined with bombed-out houses in this wrecked, abandoned village on the edge of Donetsk, the regional capital held by pro-Russian separatists.
Clutching his Kalashnikov at the ready, Elgard, who goes by the call signal “Svan,” pivoted instinctively at an intersection and scanned for danger in the direction of
Busting the Merkel Myth – POLITICO
Press play to listen to this article
BERLIN — In an age of us-versus-them politics, soon-to-be ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel might be the only prominent international leader the global demos can actually agree on.
From Poland to Peru, clear majorities profess a favorable view of the East German physicist-turned-politician, whose 16-year tenure running Europe’s largest country draws to a close next week.
In contrast to her best-known contemporaries, who span ex-U.S. president George W. Bush to Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi and
How Germany’s big parties line up on climate, mobility policy – POLITICO
Press play to listen to this article
BERLIN — When it comes to tackling climate change, Germany’s leading political parties aren’t exactly on the same page.
While all four main parties focus on measures to slash the country’s carbon emissions, there are stark differences in how they plan to do so in practice, according to a POLITICO analysis of the manifestos of the Christian Democrats, the Greens, the Social Democrats and the Free Democrats ahead of federal elections set for