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This Month

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz casts his ballot during a vote of confidence against him at the German parliament Bundestag.

Germany in crisis as government collapses

Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote, triggering an election in a new era of unstable politics in Germany amid a series of crises across Europe.

  • Christopher F. Schuetze and Jim Tankersley
Syrians take photographs with opposition fighters at Aleppo’s historic citadel.

US in direct contact with Islamist rebels in Syria

Western and regional officials are seeking to deal with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that overthrew the Assad regime despite its designation as a terrorist group.

  • Matthew Lee
Expatriate Syrians gather in Berlin this week to celebrate the fall of the Assad regime.

‘We need time’: Syrians in Europe resist calls to return home

Those who fled the 13-year civil war pointed to the political uncertainty after a rebel offensive swept into Damascus over the weekend.

  • Laura Pitel, Eleni Varvitsioti and Amy Kazmin
French President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron plans to name new PM within days

The French president also vowed to stay in office until the end of his term in 2027.

  • Updated
  • Ellen Francis and Annabelle Timsit
The European Union’s effort to break up Google’s online advertising monopoly – an outcome that could reshape the digital economy.

Break up big tech to save competition, democracy and the climate

To save the European Green Deal and restore economic competitiveness, the EU’s new antitrust push must rein in these companies’ enormous power.

  • Cori Crider
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Right-wing populist leader Marine Le Pen could bring down the French government this week.

France lurches towards political, economic crisis

Populists from right and left could topple Prime Minister Michel Barnier, risking a market meltdown over intractable politics and a burgeoning budget deficit.

  • Hans van Leeuwen

November

European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde.

Why Trump’s trade war doesn’t faze this central bank chief

ECB president Christine Lagarde takes aim at claim that tariffs will “make America great again” – but calls for negotiation, not retaliation with the US.

  • Roula Khalaf, Patrick Jenkins and Olaf Storbeck
French President Emmanuel Macron (left) with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu last year.

‘Possible immunity’: France suggests no Netanyahu arrest

The foreign ministry argued that an ICC rule on immunity may apply to the Israeli prime minister if he travelled to France, despite the court’s arrest warrant.

  • Aurelien Breeden
Trump’s tariff announcement wiped billions from the Australian sharemarket.

Three ways to tackle Trump’s looming tariff war

Canada, Mexico and China have options to avoid a trade war with the US president-elect. Here’s what they could do.

  • Alan Beattie
The cargo ship was closely followed by the Danish Navy afterwards, said open source intelligence experts.

Chinese vessel spotted where Baltic Sea cables were severed

A Chinese-registered vessel on its way from the Russian port of Ust-Luga to Port Said in Egypt passed close to both the cables around the time each was cut.

  • Richard Milne and Oliver Telling
Flight delays are an unavoidable part of post-COVID travel.

You can fly from Europe to America for free. There’s just one catch

Delays are an inevitability that clouds travel in the post-COVID world. But in Europe at least, they can have a silver lining.

  • Andrew Hobbs
Donald Trump

Trump win puts global corporate tax deal ‘in peril’

Experts believe that countries will now be unlikely to apply rules over fears of retaliation from Trump-led administration.

  • Emma Agyemang and Paola Tamma
Olaf Scholz.

Germany’s government at risk of collapse over economic policy

The main political parties are already laying out their campaign positions, and coalition leaders are barely talking.

  • Steven Erlanger and Christopher F. Schuetze

October

A Golf automobile, left, and a Tiguan sports utility vehicle (SUV), produced by Volkswagen AG (VW), are transported on elevation platforms as new VW automobiles sit in storage bays inside one of the automaker's glass delivery towers at the VW factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, on Tuesday, March 14, 2017. Volkswagen sought to draw a line under the diesel scandal that has locked it in crisis mode for more than a year, with sweeping restructuring efforts starting to take hold and profitability improving at the namesake auto brand. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

Why Europe’s car crisis is mostly made in China

The once-lucrative market is now highly competitive and more Chinese EVs are being exported, compounding slower sales at home.

  • Kana Inagaki, Edward White and Sarah White
Citi expects the lithium price to rebound next year.

Pilbara Minerals cuts lithium output, suspends plant

The miner is scaling back to endure the lithium price slump, cutting annual output and icing operations at its Ngungaju facility.

  • Elouise Fowler
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Bernard Arnault

LVMH tycoon doubles down on sport after Olympics triumph

Bernard Arnault, the richest man in Europe and sometimes the world, is following the zeitgeist – and perhaps ironing out a few family issues as well.

  • Henry Samuel
Italy’s new migrant processing centre in Shengjin, northern Albania.

Australia’s latest hot export to Europe isn’t a product. It’s an idea

The rise of populist parties and the struggle to deter, process or deport illegal migrants has pushed Europe ever closer to Australia’s Nauru solution.

  • Hans van Leeuwen
Sanjeev Gupta is the steel magnate who has cobbled together a vast empire.

Sanjeev Gupta’s entire steelmaking empire is teetering on the brink

Questions hang over the future of the British businessman’s Whyalla operations as his European mills shut down or fend off insolvency.

  • Hans van Leeuwen
European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde.

ECB cuts rates again as euro zone economy stagnates

The European Central Bank offered its first back-to-back rate cut in 13 years - in a shift to protecting economic growth.

  • Francesco Canepa and Balazs Koranyi
Silvio Berlusconi pictured in 2015 with Giorgia Meloni leader of Fratelli d’Italia political party, now Italian prime minister.

Silvio Berlusconi died. But the ‘Bunga Bunga’ scandal lives on.

Italy just can’t shake off its former prime minister. And that’s tough for the women who were still girls when they were swept up by scandal.

  • Emma Bubola

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/european-union-5wv