The health of the single market is vital for the future of Europe’s economy HELLO KITTY, a Japanese cat-girl with a bright pink bow, is an unusual mascot for European integration. But in July the cartoon character inadvertently became one. Sanrio, Hello Kitty’s owner, admitted to the European Union (EU) that it had granted trademark …
A punchy new team at the European Commission EMMANUEL MACRON is having a good summer. In July, at his urging, leaders of the European Union’s member states picked Ursula von der Leyen, then the German defence minister, to be president of the European Commission. In a package deal Christine Lagarde, the French head of the IMF, was …
As the courts are drawn into the argument, there is still no sign of an alternative proposal to the rejected deal IT IS UNUSUAL for European diplomats to become obsessed with British constitutional niceties. But recently they have watched Westminster with rare attention—and growing concern. Some gloat over the chaos of Boris Johnson’s government, after it …
Lessons from Microsoft’s corporate foreign policy IS MICROSOFT A digital nation and does it have a secretary of state? The answer of Brad Smith, the software giant’s top lawyer, is, well, diplomatic. Nation states are run by governments and firms need to be accountable to them, he says. But yes, he admits, he worries a lot …
The prime minister loses again and again in the Commons. With no majority and no Brexit plan, he has little choice but to go to the country THE RETURN of MPs to Westminster this week could hardly have been more dramatic. Boris Johnson started on September 3rd with a working majority of one and a policy of …
Seen from an airliner, Europe’s problems look smaller EVEN IN EUROPE, a continent of welfare states famed for their gloriously long holidays, the summer must eventually end. This week, as they trickle back from Mediterranean beaches and Alpine campgrounds, Europeans are preparing for a fateful autumn. The risk of a recession looms. Eurosceptic populists are likely …
As MPs plan to block a no-deal Brexit, the government plans to send them home THE PRESSURE is rising in the battle between Boris Johnson, who is determined to lead Britain out of the European Union with or without a deal on October 31st, and Parliament, where a majority of MPs want to stop a no-deal Brexit. …
A mild-mannered bunch of Conservatives are bent on taking no-deal off the table THE REBEL boot is on the other foot. For years the most prominent Tory troublemakers were Eurosceptics, who were willing to do anything to get Britain out of the European Union. Now the Eurosceptics have captured the government and the most prominent rebels …
Giuseppe Conte, Italy’s prime minister, resigned after Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Northern League party, withdrew his support for the coalition government. The coalition’s other party, the Five Star Movement, must now try to form a new government. If that fails, Italy may face a general election. An Italian prosecutor ordered a ship carrying around …
Another part of the union mulls separation from England THE WALL is not a big one, nor a beautiful one, nor does it keep anything in, nor out. But it is a sacred one. Situated in a lay-by on the A487, just north of Llanrhystud, about half-way up the west coast of Wales, its importance derives from …
“Girl” is among the illustrious writer’s most powerful books Girl. By Edna O’Brien.Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 240 pages; $26. Faber & Faber; £16.99. EDNA O’BRIEN launched her illustrious career in 1960 with “The Country Girls”, an incendiary, trailblazing novel that charted the fortunes and sexual awakening of two young women in the Ireland of the 1950s. Two …
An indicative vote in Argentina’s presidential election suggested that the opposition, led by Alberto Fernández with the country’s previous president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (no relation), as his running-mate, would handily win the actual election in October. The Argentine peso shed a quarter of its value against the dollar and its main stockmarket fell by 37%. …