Section: European Voice (EU)
Poland mourns Brexit
WARSAW — When Poland’s new government laid out its foreign policy priorities, there wasn’t much question who was the country’s leading EU partner. “In the first place, the United Kingdom,” Witold Waszczykowski, the foreign minister, said in a January speech to the Polish parliament, saying that the two countries had a “common...
Angela Merkel takes center stage on Brexit
As Britain’s political chaos veered into a fourth uncertain day, and the pound and markets continued their tumble, a familiar figure in Europe stepped into the foreground on Monday to attempt to provide some clarity on the days and months to come after last week’s shocking Brexit referendum. Once again, as during the Greek debt crisis...
Brussels bickers over Brexit
Continental dividing lines over Brexit came into sharper focus this weekend, revealing disagreements among leading political players over how to manage a divorce with the U.K. On the one side are hawks, or to some the bad cops, in the form of the presidents of the European Commission and Parliament — Jean-Claude Juncker and Martin Schulz — along...
Mogherini shakes up staff, mission
Following a couple of unexpected and high-profile departures from the EU’s fledgling diplomatic service, its ambitious chief, Federica Mogherini, has moved fast to put her stamp on the institution and articulate a clearer vision for it and Europe’s foreign policy. But the upheavals at the European External Action Service, a kind of EU...
The day after Britain votes
When David Cameron honored his pledge to hold a referendum on Europe following an unexpectedly resounding election triumph last year, the choice put before British voters was roughly this: Keep the status quo ante or leap into an unknown. At some point in the last few months, status quo came off the ballot. Whether the U.K. stays or not after...
How Europe will break on Brexit
The whole world will be watching Friday morning for fallout from Britain’s referendum on EU membership. A U.K. vote to leave will almost certainly have serious consequences on everything from financial markets to European policy decisions to political careers to the stability of the bloc. Politicians and diplomats from across Europe told...
EU takes first step toward extending Russia sanctions
Ambassadors of the EU’s 28 countries agreed on Tuesday to extend economic sanctions against Russia for another six months, diplomatic sources told POLITICO, though the decision still needs to be officially approved by ministers in the Council, and France, the U.K. and Sweden want to discuss the extension with national parliamentarians. An...
New Western frontier, conquered by China
KHORGAS, China — The world’s lost cities have all been unearthed. The modern-day equivalent — fulfilling an age-old desire to stand in a place wholly unknown to others — is a city built so recently that few have even heard of it. The Chinese town of Khorgas, on the border with Kazakhstan and a strategic crossroads along the new Silk Road,...
EU extends sanctions targeting Crimea after Russian annexation
EU ministers on Friday extended for another year a set of sanctions targeting the Crimea peninsula, following its annexation by Russia in March 2014. The economic restrictions include an import ban of products originating from Crimea and prohibiting EU-based companies from investing on the peninsula or exporting certain goods and technologies...
Jean-Claude Juncker: ‘We must talk with Russia’
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said today that the EU and Russia should work towards improving their political and economic relations, but also reminded Moscow that it must live up to its international obligations. “We must not only talk about Russia … [but] also talk with Russia — its leadership, its people,” Juncker said,...
