The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland, on their first joint visit to Ukraine, said on Saturday that Russia would face “new and massive” sanctions on its banking and energy sectors if President Vladimir V. Putin refused to agree to a full, unconditional 30-day cease-fire. “All of us are calling Putin out,” Prime Minister … Read more
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland made their first-ever joint visit to Kyiv on Saturday, in an effort to underscore their support for Ukraine and reinforce calls for Russia to agree to a 30-day cease-fire. During a trip intended to showcase European unity, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, the new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, … Read more
Two decades ago, before Friedrich Merz came back from the private sector to win the German chancellorship, he accepted an invitation to a gathering of the French Foreign Legion in Corsica. At the last moment, the organizers asked him to arrive on the parade ground not by road or rail, but by parachute. Mr. Merz, … Read more
Follow live updates on the Trump administration here. During his first term in office, President Trump described the European Union “as a foe,” established “to hurt the United States on trade.” He repeated the charge at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, but in more vulgar terms: “The European Union was formed in order to screw … Read more
The president of Germany’s central bank, which on Tuesday reported an annual loss for the first time in more than 40 years, said that Germany faced another year of economic stagnation, more gloomy news for a country that is struggling to grow. “It is not possible to rule out a third year consecutive calendar year … Read more
When Vice President JD Vance criticized his German hosts last week for sidelining far-right parties, he did not mention by name the Alternative for Germany, known as the AfD. But soon after his speech at the Munich Security Conference, in which he stunned the room by comparing democracy in today’s Europe to Soviet-era totalitarianism, Mr. … Read more