Western Europe Archive

Far-right parties across Europe are expected to do well in upcoming European Parliament elections. But their power is limited by fragmentation.

A surge of support for the Green Party in recent local elections provided a hint of new crosscurrents that could become central to U.K. politics.

After six months of negotiations, four parties have agreed to form a new, decidedly right-wing government. It will be a very weird one.

Led by Friedrich Merz, the CDU are capitalizing on nostalgia for what is increasingly romanticized as Germany’s political “golden age.”

German leaders have maintained their ironclad support for Israel. It’s increasingly putting them at odds with their constituents.

Europeans increasingly care about climate change policy. It isn’t translating into votes for Europe’s Green parties.

As working summits go, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s meeting with Libya’s interim prime minister in Tripoli last week seemed like a routine visit. But her meeting a few hours later in Benghazi with the leader of the rival government there underscored the dangers lurking below the surface of the two sides’ calm relations.

Last week’s local elections mark the firmest confirmation yet that the ruling Conservative Party is on track to be decimated in U.K. general elections later this year. Many observers blame the party’s decline on its failure to boost public services and economic growth. But it is also the product of deeper structural factors.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to Europe is coming at a rather awkward time. European police and intelligence agencies have recently uncovered an astonishing number of alleged Chinese spies in a tidal wave of counterespionage activity in recent weeks, underscoring the sheer breadth of Beijing’s intelligence operations.

While large economies like Germany, France and the U.K. have been mired in stagnant growth and even recession over the past few years, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain have managed to flip the EU’s economic script. But questions remain as to whether the region’s economic momentum can be maintained going forward.