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A French crisis on top of Germany’s own political and economic turmoil. The European Central Bank has already warned that the EU could be on the brink of a new debt crisis because of policy uncertainty and low growth.

EU in disarray

Years and years of lavish spending have brought the French deficit to more than 6 percent

Custom offices disappeared along motorways between most of the EU member states and their citizens with their EU passport were able to travel by plane without significant checks.

Border controls are the new normal in the Schengen area

By: N. Peter Kramer | Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, announced that France will control all its borders for illegal immigration from November 1

The European Parliament is also not happy. From the Parliament’s Budget Committee comes already the remark, that the proposal could be blocked if beneficiaries of the funds remain shrouded in secrecy.

Commission’s new budget plan angers European Parliament

By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, October 16, 2024

A European Commission draft proposal to reform the next EU’s seven-year €1,2 trillion budget has already generated controversy

France is the most affected by the Chinese decision as China imports 99 percent of its brandy from that country.

China hits back and starts with France

By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Following the EU’s recent vote to go ahead with the Commission’s proposal for tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles imported into the EU, China is hitting back

Bruno Retailleau, an LR senator with very hard views on immigration, becomes the new minister for home affairs in charge of police and immigration. His appointment can be seen as an assuage of far-right concerns and a try to secure their tacit support.

Fate of new French government lies in the hands of Marine Le Pen

By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, September 25, 2024

The announcement of the new French government ended a 67-days wait, the longest in France modern political history

In Brussels, the dominant conclusion is that the picture of the new Commission emerges as one of a relatively week slate of commissioners. Maybe that is what von der Leyen intended.

The new European Commission: the Von der Leyen court

By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Looking at the new Commission, power centres like Timmermans, Vestager and Breton are missing

According to Draghi, in order to digitise the economy, decarbonise and increase defense capacity, the investment rate as a share of the EU’s GDP must increase by 5 percent points, that is more than 700 billion euros per year!

Draghi : €700 billion more annual investment to be a global player

By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, September 11, 2024

A year ago, Mario Draghi, a former controversial European Central Bank president, was commissioned by the European Commission to carry out an analysis of the EU’s industrial competitiveness

In both states the extreme-right party won more than 30 percent of the votes.

Political crises in France and Germany weaken the EU

By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, September 4, 2024

While the EU is involved in a war with Russia and an economic showdown with China, France and Germany , the traditional axis of the EU engine, are in a deep political and economic crisis

But, the EU is not winning any medals, individual countries do even when they are an EU member state.

An Olympic sunstroke for the European Commission

By: EBR | Friday, August 2, 2024

‘Thanks to the contributions of France and Italy, the EU remains at the top of the (Olympic) medal table (in Paris)’, cheered the European Commission

This is mainly due to the arrival of the electric car. Batteries, which account for more than 20 percent of the costs of a new electric car, are largely made outside the EU.

And Asia is the winner, again...

By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, July 31, 2024

The EU has few commodities such as oil or gas that it can export, nor does it have many big tech companies

VDL will do her work ‘dictatorial’, without any consultation or any say or interference of anyone else. Her favourite way of doing her job.

The autocracy of the European Commission presidency

By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Now Ursula von der Leyen has cemented her second term as President of the European Commission, it is up to her and nobody else to distribute the commissioner’s portfolios

In a nutshell, Meloni will increase her leverage toward socialists and liberals.

Meloni eyes EU comeback

By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, July 17, 2024

After being isolated in EU top jobs talks, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is now on track for a comeback in Brussels

But there is a problem. Before the EU elections, the EPP wanted a ‘more pragmatic’ approach to green policies, President Von der Leyen followed her group and took a step back on the Green Deal.

Meloni or the Greens, that’s the question for VDL

By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, July 10, 2024

Von der Leyen’s re-election as President of the European Commission is not a race that already has been run

All the alarm bells have been going off for some time, but the Democrats pretend not to hear it and stubbornly clinging to Joe Biden.

The overconfidence of Biden and the Democrats

By: N. Peter Kramer | Tuesday, July 2, 2024

‘The only time he showed any combativeness was when he was challenged by Donald Trump to brag about his golf handicap’

The absurd situation arose that Austrian Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler, a former professional activist and member of the Green party, voted in favour of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation act contrary to her government instructions.

Nature restoration law pushed through illegally by Green minister

By: N. Peter Kramer | Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Last week political history has been made in the European Union

The G7 decided to use the interest on some 280 billion euros of frozen Russian assets with Western financial institutions for a long-term loan of 50 billion euros to Ukraine.

The G7 wants to project strength, but the traditional group photo shows its weakness

By: N. Peter Kramer | Tuesday, June 18, 2024

An 81-year-old Biden trailing Trump in the polls; Macron and Scholz who have just been defeated by the far right; Sunak on his last G7 meeting before his election defeat