Von der Leyen and Kallas rivalry deepens as capitals move to curb EU diplomatic service
A French-led push to reform the EU's foreign service has exposed a growing power struggle between them.
Hot Topic
EU leadership
Popular articles tagged "EU leadership"
Europe moves to take charge of peace talks with Putin
The European push has come as the US has increasingly turned its attention to the conflict with Iran.
Meloni says that gigantic EU bureaucracy is smothering industrial development
Italian Prime Minister called for greater competitiveness, simplification and the cutting of red tape.
Europe without Orbán: the brakes come off in Brussels
His successor arrives in office as the figure Brussels had hoped for, and worked towards, well before Hungarians voted.
Meloni asks for greater EU fiscal flexibility to tackle the ongoing energy crisis
In a letter sent to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, she stressed that this should occur without altering the overall deviation limits.
Meloni and Magyar meet ‘convinced that Italy and Hungary will continue to work together‘
Italian Prime Minister and Hungary’s newly elected Prime Minister met in what analysts see as an effort to preserve strong bilateral ties following Viktor Orbán’s…
Macron avoids meeting Polish President Nawrocki during Gdańsk visit
He did so yesterday, after Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who heads Poland’s centre-left coalition government, made it clear he did not wish the French head of state…
Ex-council president Charles Michel slams EC chiefs ‘authoritarian governance’
Former European council president Charles Michel attacked European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, accusing her of running an "authoritarian" leadership,…
The piffle from von der Leyen: ‘The Union grows stronger’
Last weekend, on nearly opposite sides of the EU, two states revealed how the cumbrous juggernaut of the union is not working. No, sorry, cannot be made to work.
Rubio: A distinguished and effective diplomatic chief
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s address to the Munich Security Conference last week has ricocheted around Europe and the world as a stirring and conciliatory…
Meloni breaks with Merz on MAGA, testing Rome-Berlin EU ambitions
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni publicly distanced herself from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over his criticism of the US MAGA movement and his framing…
Kremlin rules out talks with ‘semi-literate, incompetent’ EU bureaucrats
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has categorically ruled out any negotiations with Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas or the European Union's broader…
Merz says EU crippled itself with over-regulation, proposes ’emergency brake’
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said the European Union has hobbled its own competitiveness through excessive regulation and bureaucracy.
Unity? Bulgaria doesn’t care about Greenland, Spain doesn’t care about Estonia
Europe’s leadership, particularly western and north-central Europeans, made two arguments when faced with President Donald Trump’s move to annex Greenland: That,…
Slovak PM condemns ‘stifling’ EU competitiveness in scathing letter to von der Leyen
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has sent a sharply worded open letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, criticising the European Union's approach…
Polish President Nawrocki calls for end to EU ‘centralisation’
Polish President Karol Nawrocki said the European Union was “not a union of our dreams” because it was becoming over-centralised.
China’s climate envoy humiliates the EU
The European Union came to COP 30 in Belem confident that it could supplant the absent Americans and lead the world with the example of its own plans to achieve…
Von der Leyens’ numbered days
European Union President Ursula von der Leyen has forged what is likely the strongest role for someone in her office in the EU’s history.
European leaders ‘asked Trump to pressure Orbán’ on EU membership for Ukraine
US President Donald Trump reportedly called Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the behest of European leaders in a bid to convince him to support Ukraine…
In trade as in defence, the US is strong and the EU is weak
The new US-EU trade deal has spawned a legion of critics who allege European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen cravenly capitulated in the face of American…
US flattens EU: Brussels is too weak to be a pole in a multipolar world
The trade deal on July 27 between America and the European Union was disastrous for Europe. The Financial Times described it as “the EU to Trump’s steamroller.
Flip-flops, dead mink and fake Russia panic: Denmark’s Frederiksen takes over Council
Denmark took over the rotating presidency of the European Council on July 1.
Von der Leyen wins ‘leadership’ award amid criticism over transparency and corruption
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen received the Charlemagne Prize on May 29–leading to criticism from MEPs who called the award "in blatant contradiction…
Lithuania knows how to have a backbone against China, the EU should take note
It is not every day that a country stands up to the People’s Republic of China, particularly one as small as Lithuania.
Europeans have only two months left to keep the Americans in and the Russians out
The annual NATO summit in Brussels on June 24 and 25 is likely to be the most consequential in decades.
European leadership was once strong and admired, but no longer
Europe was accustomed for so long to an alliance with the United States where the contributions and benefits were so uneven in Europe's favour that the Europeans…
How Europe is squeezing itself in a two-front war
In Europe, scary days are back again. The old continent is facing a two-front war, the most inconvenient position one can imagine.
Hey: who’s in charge here?
From the beginning of the Trump administration, Brussels-based officials have been struck by the new president’s complete lack of desire to deal with them.
The EU is ‘a political dwarf,’ here is how a euro-enthusiast sees the way forward
In the current geopolitical context, the European Union urgently needs to strengthen its credibility and relevance.
Commission chief urges Caribbean nations to ‘call for peace in Ukraine’
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pushed attendees at the Caribbean Nations Summit (Caricom) to call for peace in Ukraine, despite the Caribbean…