Brussels

If only Britain knew how it was viewed abroad

22 June 2024 9:00 am

If the country were a person, it would need its friends to sit it down and deliver it a few home truths about its damaging behaviour to itself and others, says Michael Peel

Qatargate and the dubious moral authority of NGOs 

24 December 2022 1:31 am

The Qatargate scandal haunting the European Union is not merely about corrupt politicians and officials. The deplorable role of a non-governmental organisation is at the heart…

Imperial measures are culture war bait

30 May 2022 6:40 pm

The idea of reintroducing imperial measures in honour of the Queen’s Jubilee has one quality that will have commended it to No. 10’s…

David Frost's solution to cool UK-EU relations

16 March 2022 5:40 am

Since David Frost quit the government in December over its political direction, he has not said that much about the…

Donald Tusk is playing a dangerous game in dismissing Polexit

13 September 2021 9:42 pm

‘The British showed that the dictatorship of the Brussels bureaucracy did not suit them and turned around and left.’ That’s…

Hungary, Poland and the EU’s ‘diversity’ problem

2 August 2021 11:59 pm

It is quite something when the self-proclaimed ‘illiberal’ prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, reminds Brussels of its liberal principles.…

The EU will regret its legal onslaught against Poland

17 July 2021 3:30 pm

When European governments openly disobey courts, ears prick up. When two courts simultaneously contradict each other on the same day…

The EU's Brexit bill doesn't add up

16 July 2021 9:16 pm

A dozen hospitals. A hundred million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and a lot more of the Oxford one. Or…

Why has the EU let German car manufacturers off the hook?

9 July 2021 12:40 am

Two billion? Five billion? Perhaps ten billion to make it a nice round number? For colluding on diesel emissions you…

Viktor Orbán goes to war on the European parliament

23 June 2021 7:42 pm

‘Times have changed, and whereas thirty years ago we believed Europe was our future, today we understand that we are…

Prepare for the EU’s ‘Hamilton moment’

22 June 2021 3:00 pm

The EU may boast a common currency like any other state (even if nearly a third of its 27 members…

The manhunt dividing Belgium

12 June 2021 4:01 pm

Belgium’s leading virologist is in hiding, holed up with his family in a government safe house. The reason? A right-wing…

Can the EU be trusted to introduce vaccine passports?

2 March 2021 2:37 am

The contracts were badly drafted. The orders were late. Too few resources were made available for the scale of the…

The EU is stepping up its raid on the city of London

26 February 2021 12:27 am

It is not usual for the Governor of the Bank of England to ask permission to make a statement about…

Biden's rift with Brussels is only set to grow

16 February 2021 1:46 am

It was meant to be a special relationship. After the tumultuous Trump years, President Biden was planning to reset relations…

I was a Remainer – but I now want no deal

21 September 2019 9:00 am

When I told two neighbours that I had become a no-deal Brexiter they physically recoiled from me. ‘You can’t.’ ‘But…

Aurora Orchestra’s Brexit concert nearly turned me into a Leaver

6 April 2019 9:00 am

Back when the UK was assumed to be leaving the European Union on 29 March, the Aurora Orchestra was invited…

Credit: Getty Images

Fun at the EU’s expense: The Capital, by Robert Menasse, reviewed

16 February 2019 9:00 am

Stendhal likened politics in literature to a pistol-shot in a concert: crude, but compelling. When that politics largely consists of…

Theresa May has been given a second chance to save Brexit. She’d better not blow it

2 February 2019 9:00 am

Theresa May will soon arrive in Brussels with a series of unlikely demands. She must tell the European Union that…

France is now the sick man of Europe

4 June 2016 9:00 am

It is a long time since the term ‘sick man of Europe’ could be applied to Britain. France is now…

How is Britain going green? By shutting down industry

2 April 2016 9:00 am

A fortnight ago, the energy minister, Andrea Leadsom, declared grandly that Britain, alone in the world, would commit to a…

The Lahore attacks reflected hatred of Christians. Why must we deny it?

2 April 2016 9:00 am

You might expect that the murder of Christians would excite particular horror in countries of Christian heritage. Yet almost the…

Portrait of the week

27 February 2016 9:00 am

Home David Cameron, having continued talks through the night in Brussels, announced that he had achieved a ‘special status’ for…

Portrait of the week

20 February 2016 9:00 am

Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, spent time in Brussels before a meeting of the European Council to see what…

The next immigration crisis

13 February 2016 9:00 am

There has been an influx of 2.5 million Syrian refugees, and almost as many again are expected. At this rate, Turkey’s migrant problem is set to become Europe’s