Europe News

Despite its cool Green parties and ambitious wind and solar agendas, Europe remains by far the world’s largest importer of oil and natural gas. Oil output in the North Sea and off the coast of Norway is declining, and the European Union is quietly looking for fossil fuel energy anywhere it can find it. Europe…

We are just one week into 2020, and already Europe has suffered its first Islamist terrorist attack of the year. On Friday, a 22-year-old French citizen named in the press as “Nathan C.” began stabbing joggers in a park in Paris. One man died while trying to protect his wife, who was also seriously injured….

There’s lots of talk in Washington about the Islamic State and the Trump administration’s Syria policy. That’s an important discussion to have, but it’s only one part of the counterterrorism discussion that America has to be engaged in. Consider events in Europe over the past week. On Oct. 3, an information technology specialist, Michael Harpon,…

When the caliphate of the Islamic State collapsed, its fighters scattered. Many ISIS terrorists ended up in camps being run by Syrian Kurds in northern Syria. Among the number are about 2,000 Europeans, and what exactly to do about that is the biggest source of disagreement that exists between the U.S. and Europe on counterterrorism policy today….

Free speech is increasingly under attack on college campuses — but if you think it’s bad here, look across the pond to Europe. Authorities over there are increasingly cracking down on so-called “hate speech” — a label that’s been applied to speech critical of Islam, homosexuality, and more. Paul Coleman, a British attorney who’s had…

The announcement of new leadership at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty could signal the beginning of a new era in U.S. international broadcasting. Last week, foreign policy specialist and German Marshall Fund senior fellow Jamie Fly was appointed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s new president, a choice that bodes well for the mission and for management of the…

On June 22, German workers celebrated their Tax Freedom Day—the day when taxpayers have finally earned enough money to pay the country’s tax bill. Germany’s Tax Freedom Day falls more than two months after taxpayers in the United States celebrated our freedom on April 16. Germany is not alone in Europe when it comes to…

There is no doubt the winds of change are continuing to blow across Europe. Established political parties of the center-right and center-left suffered large losses during European parliamentary elections, which took place in 28 nations from May 23 to May 26. Across the European Union there were significant gains for nationalist and populist movements, on…

The European Union Parliament elections this week provided a shock to the system for the center-right and center-left coalition in European politics: The big winners were nationalist movements. In France, Marine Le Pen’s immigration-restrictionist National Front defeated the party of the current president, Emmanuel Macron. In Italy, Matteo Salvini’s similarly anti-immigration League Party won big….

In about six weeks, from May 23 to 26, European Parliament elections will take place across Europe. Those elections could be a defining moment. The most recent prior EU Parliament elections took place in May 2014. Just a few months before, the borders of a European country were changed by force. Russia invaded Ukraine, annexed…

Europeans routinely complain about being neglected by U.S. administrations. As much as Europeans doted on then-President Barack Obama, he indeed treated them with benign indifference, taking their support for granted. But now, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo having made his way through their capitals last week, Europeans have gotten a taste of a new…

This year is shaping up as an inflection point for Europe. Key national elections and European Union parliamentary elections could recast the Continent’s political discourse for years to come. Britain is set to leave the European Union at the end of March, and NATO will mark its 70th anniversary as it, fittingly, continues to return to its…

This week, the White House is singing a new tune on trade and it sounds promising. President Donald Trump, in a joint press conference with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, said they were “[launching] a new phase … of strong trade relations in which both of us will win.” This is a major shift in…

Hungary’s maverick prime minister, Viktor Orban, is once again stirring the pot of goulash. Four years ago, Orban gave his critics ammunition when he said he was constructing an “illiberal democracy.” This month he doubled down, declaring liberal democracy dead and urging other European leaders to stop trying to revive the corpse. Instead, Orban exhorted…

The Federal Administrative Court of Leipzig’s recent ruling on diesel engines could spell economic pain for millions of drivers. The court’s decision, which allows the German cities of Stuttgart and Dusseldorf to ban older diesel-engine cars from sections of the cities, could likely set a precedent for much of the European Union. Other European cities…

In their zeal to stamp out “fake news,” European governments are turning toward Orwellian solutions that are worse than the disease. The European Commission recently created a 39-member panel to explore avenues to eliminate fake news. On Twitter, it announced that it seeks to find a “balanced approach” to protecting free speech and making sure…

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s speech on Tuesday at the Wilson Center on strengthening Western alliances rightly placed U.S. alliances in Europe front and center for U.S. national interests. The secretary reaffirmed America’s commitment to NATO, robustly defended the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and pushed back against Russia’s aggressive behavior in the region….