The potential reelection of former U.S. President Donald Trump would be a “threat” to Europe, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned. “If we are to draw lessons from history, meaning the way he ran the first four years of his mandate, it’s clearly a threat,” Lagarde said Thursday during an interview with TV channel France 2. “Just look … Read more
PARIS — Emmanuel Macron picked Renew Europe Group President Stéphane Séjourné as France’s new foreign minister, the French presidency announced Thursday, in a widely expected government reshuffle. Séjourné’s appointment is likely to have big repercussions for European centrists ahead of the European election in June. The 38-year-old is a key operator in the Macron galaxy, … Read more
Dozens of Ukrainian children from a Russian-occupied city in Ukraine were taken to Belarus and sent to “emergency survival training” with the Belarusian military, according to local media. The Belarus 4 Mogilev state television channel reported on Wednesday that 35 children from the city of Antratsyt in eastern Ukraine, which Russia has occupied since 2014, … Read more
BRUSSELS — Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton wants to set up a massive €100 billion EU defense fund, he said on Tuesday. He’s slated to present the European Defence Investment Program (EDIP) on February 27, a cash pot aimed at boosting joint weapons procurement and putting the EU on more of a war footing by … Read more
BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to put added pressure on EU partners to deliver more weapons to Ukraine by raising the issue at a special summit of EU leaders next month. Politicos will meet in Brussels on February 1, where they plan to adopt a €50 billion financial aid package for Kyiv. Scholz … Read more
BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday urged other EU nations to deliver more military aid to Ukraine, saying Berlin has asked Brussels to check with countries on their planned support for Kyiv. Speaking to reporters, Scholz warned that while his government is planning to double its military aid to Ukraine to €8 billion … Read more
Polish farmers ended a blockade of a Poland-Ukraine border crossing after reaching an agreement with Warsaw that met their demands, defusing a dispute that had become an early test of the new government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Newly appointed Polish Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekierski signed the deal with Polish farmers blockading the Medyka-Shehyni border … Read more
U.K. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said North Korea will pay a “high price” for supporting Russia, a day after the U.S. accused Moscow of using Pyongyang-supplied missiles in its war on Ukraine. “The world has turned its back on Russia, forcing Putin into the humiliation of going cap in hand to North Korea to keep his illegal … Read more
Latvian Foreign Minister Krišjānis Kariņš said Russia “will not stop” after the war in Ukraine and that NATO needs a “long-term strategy” to contain Moscow. “Russia will not stop, Russia can only be stopped,” Kariņš told the Financial Times in an interview published Friday. “Stopping Russia in Ukraine does not mean that it is over. It simply means … Read more
LONDON — Britain accused Russia of using North Korean missiles in Ukraine in an act of “desperation.” The White House on Thursday said it had intelligence indicating “the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea recently provided Russia with ballistic missile launchers and several ballistic missiles,” and that Russian forces had launched “at least one of these … Read more
