German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in Berlin, June 2, 2020 Credit: FABRIZIO BENSCH/ REUTERS German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Wednesday will land in Israel ahead of his expected meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Gabi Ashkenazi. The visit’s official capacity is for Maas to acquaint himself with Ashkenazi. Unofficially, Maas intends to caution Israel against…
An Israeli unity government, a weak Europe, and very strong ties with the United States means that Israel has options open to it now that it may not have again in the foreseeable future, but time is running short. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently went on a brief six-hour trip to Israel. As Israel’s…
The German Chancellor’s surprising move to back a cashed-up EU recovery fund is giving fresh impetus to a supranational approach. The German Chancellor has a record of defying orthodoxies and the Covid-19 crisis cries out for extraordinary steps BERLIN • German Chancellor Angela Merkel is well known for her political flexibility. After the catastrophe of…
The Commission’s $825 billion rescue fund would break many taboos, possibly paving the way for EU taxes and an EU treasury. A radical transformation. –Photographer: Vanden Wijngaert/Bloomberg The European Union has a habit of disappointing when trying to design a joint response to an economic crisis. However, Ursula von der Leyen’s speech at the European Parliament on Wednesday…
(Bloomberg Opinion) — The European Union’s pandemic recovery plan has all the hallmarks of a historic leap in the dark for the 27-member bloc. It aims to unleash as much as 750 billion euros ($826 billion) of fiscal stimulus, fueled by joint borrowing on financial markets — a big deal for member states that have always jealously guarded the power to…
Greece has a right to extend a fence at the border with Turkey in the northeastern region of Evros to avoid a repeat of the tensions last March when thousands of migrants attempted to scale the fence and enter into EU soil. Migrants gathered at the border after Turkey announced it would no longer adhere…
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary will not accept a ruling by the European Union’s top court that four asylum-seekers stuck in a transit zone on the Hungarian-Serbian border should be released, a security aide to Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Tuesday. The Court of Justice of the European Union reviewed the case of two Afghan…
COVID-19 is transforming the EU works in several ways, accelerating trends that were visible before the virus struck. These changes are good news for anti-EU populists. It is far too soon to judge how COVID-19 will transform the EU – we are still in the early phases of a story that will last for several…
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s coalition parties quarreled on Tuesday over a move to grant permits to irregular migrants working in farms and as carers, in a row that delayed the approval of a stimulus package for the coronavirus-hit economy. The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement is against giving temporary work papers to migrants, saying it will benefit…
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany must help its European Union neighbors revive their economies after the coronavirus crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel told a meeting of lawmakers from her conservative bloc on Tuesday, according to several participants. It is essential for Germany, as an export nation, that its EU partners also do well, Merkel told the lawmakers,…