All coverage of Belgium, ranked by recency.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog accused Britain of intervening in his country’s elections through sanctions he called “unfair and politically motivated,” urging his European allies to talk with Israel before blaming the country. “I was very disturbed and offended on behalf of my nation regarding the sanctions that were laid against us by the U.K. government,” Herzog said Thursday in an interview...
TIRANA, Albania — Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama took a playful shot at U.S. Democrats over ongoing “ Flamingo Revolution ” protests against a planned luxury resort backed by Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. What started as protests against the project has evolved into broader anti-government protests and is now entering its 124th consecutive day, drawing widespread interna...
The mass influx of migrants into Ceuta over the summer has placed a controversial migration measure on EU ministers’ agenda. In July, the sudden arrival of more than 70,000 migrants to the small Spanish North African territory triggered chaos, just as the EU was rolling out sweeping migration reforms to secure its external borders. Several countries argue that it should be possible to temporari...
BRUSSELS — The European Commission and Ukraine have reached a deal to accelerate the disbursement of €45 billion earmarked for Kyiv in 2027 under the EU’s €90 billion loan program , they said Thursday in a joint statement . Russia has in recent weeks escalated its drone and missile attacks against Ukraine, while the country is running out of funds to buy weapons to defend itself. Prime Minister...
BUDVA, Montenegro — German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul urged EU countries on Thursday to deliver on enlargement promises to the Western Balkans, warning that the bloc’s credibility and its influence in the region are at stake. “We are at a crossroads with the EU enlargement process,” Wadephul told reporters following a meeting in Montenegro held as part of the Berlin Process — in which EU ...
LONDON — Nigel Farage told Andy Burnham to “bring it on” if he wants to fight a general election on rejoining the European Union. The Reform UK leader, a veteran Brexiteer, claimed in a speech on Thursday that the British prime minister has given him the “biggest boost in my career” by reopening the EU debate. Burnham used his first conference address as Labour leader this week to open up the p...
Listen on Spotify Apple Music Deezer Après avoir dévoilé jeudi son budget pour 2027, Sébastien Lecornu va engager une longue bataille politique pour tenter de le faire adopter avant la fin de l’année. Ordonnances ou 49.3 : quels sont les scénarios sur la table ? Comment le projet de loi de finances a-t-il été construit pour amadouer les oppositions ? Quelles sont les principales mesures du text...
This article is also available in: English Le PDG de Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, a été l’architecte en chef des accords “moralement contraignants” sur l’IA issus du déjeuner organisé mardi à la Maison-Blanche avec le président Donald Trump, le président de la Chambre des représentants Mike Johnson et plus d’une douzaine de dirigeants de la tech, selon cinq personnes au fait de cette réunion à huis c...
European leaders must stop calling Russian attacks “hybrid,” according to Estonia’s foreign minister. They are “terror attacks” and “sabotage attacks,” Margus Tsahkna told POLITICO in an interview, and part of a systematic Russian effort against Europe that amounts to “some kind of war.” Tsahkna was speaking after Estonia’s announcement Tuesday that Russian special services were behind an Augus...
BRUSSELS — Five European countries agreed at an emergency meeting Thursday to respond with “one voice” to growing pressure from the U.S. government to release reserves of diesel, according to people familiar with the matter. France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Ireland and the European Commission joined the talks to decide how to respond to pressure from Washington to draw down oil stockpiles or fa...
PARIS — The French government on Thursday proposed a 2027 budget with €43 billion in savings that seem designed to appease Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, the National Rally, and reassure markets frightened over France’s increasingly dire fiscal outlook. “In 2027, we will return to the path of consolidation,” Economy and Finance Minister Roland Lescure told reporters Thursday as he presented t...
BERLIN — Die Trump-Regierung hat europäische Regierungen aufgefordert, einen Großteil der strategischen Dieselreserven der EU freizugeben, um so die stark steigenden Kraftstoffkosten zu dämpfen. Das sagten vier Regierungsvertreter aus der EU und den USA gegenüber POLITICO. Der von US-Energieminister Chris Wright vorgelegte Vorschlag wurde als Alternative zu der Drohung von Präsident Donald Trum...
BERLIN — The Trump administration has circulated a proposal to European governments asking them to release a large portion of the bloc’s strategic diesel reserves to ease soaring fuel costs, according to four officials in European and U.S. governments. The plan, put forward by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, was pitched as an alternative to President Donald Trump’s threat of a blanket ban o...
PARIS — French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called an emergency meeting on Thursday to address the fast-growing number of student protests across the country. The movement, which was born of anger over conditions in secondary schools, began in recent days with teenagers blocking entrances to educational institutions in underprivileged suburbs of Paris. The Union Syndicale Lycéenne , the stu...
PARIS — France will increase its defense budget next year despite increasingly strained public finances, according to a document obtained by POLITICO. The French government will present later on Thursday a 2027 budget that earmarks €63.4 billion for military expenditures, compared with €57 billion this year. About 12% will be dedicated to nuclear deterrence and 43% to the purchase and maintenan...
LONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would be “really concerned” should Manchester City’s Emirati owners sell up after the club was found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules. An independent commission found the club guilty of a majority of the charges they faced, including arranging “sham contracts” with commercial partners as part of a scheme to disguise more than £...
Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Sky News Labour’s conference is over, and the opposition parties are already on the attack – despite a ringing endorsement from Oasis’ Liam Gallagher. As the Conservatives head to Birmingham, Kemi Badenoch has branded the prime minister’s plans as “Corbynism with better packaging”. Sam Coates and Anne McElvoy ask whether the Tories are embracing a more...
'Midterms' aux États-Unis : dans les camps de détention de l’ICE, 'l’objectif de Trump est de faire souffrir les immigrés' RTBF
Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Ukraine’s prime minister is warning of a $20 billion defense funding gap as Russia intensifies its attacks and Kyiv struggles to protect its skies and keep the country running. Zoya Sheftalovich and Sarah Wheaton look at just how much pressure Ukraine is under — from its military finances to farmers struggling to get their grain out. They also unpack t...
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he hasn’t yet made up his mind on whether to impose a ban on diesel fuel exports, despite fierce pushback on the idea in recent days from the oil and gas industry and some of his own advisers. The White House is facing growing pressure to take steps to bring down record high diesel prices ahead of the midterm elections, and Trump indicated last week he woul...
ERICEIRA, Portugal — Donald Trump is bleeding support on the European far right. The leader of populist Portuguese party Chega has joined a chorus of nationalist politicians criticizing the U.S. president — their ideological ally — over the war in Iran and its ripple effect on fuel prices. “There were lots of mistakes that President Trump committed in the last months. The war in Iran is affecti...
Earlier this year, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered some avuncular counsel to Western allies at Davos, weary of being belittled and trolled by President Donald Trump and his advisers: “Sit back, take a deep breath, do not retaliate,” he urged. “Let things play out.” His remarks focused primarily on tariffs, but at the Swiss Alpine gabfest, Bessent and other Trump aides repeated the...
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was the chief architect of the “morally binding” AI accords that emerged from Tuesday’s White House lunch with President Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson and more than a dozen tech executives, according to five people familiar with the private meeting. Zuckerberg, with the help of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, pitched the so-called AI accords to senior White House official...
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wants the European Commission to relax its fiscal rules to allow countries to better help firms and families deal with rising prices, driven by a crunch in energy supply. Speaking at a media event on Wednesday, Meloni said she is writing to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about the issue and wants it discussed at upcoming Ecofin and European Counc...
The Trump administration is excluding several major allies from a gathering of NATO members next month — after threatening to deploy a “ naughty and nice list ” against governments that have run afoul of the president’s priorities. The planned meeting in Poland, which Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby has spearheaded, is essentially a working group focused on NATO’s future, according to six ...
KYIV — Vladimir Putin is intensifying Russia’s pressure on Ukraine, smashing cities, factories, bridges and ports with constant waves of killer drones and missiles. Short on interceptors, Kyiv is having difficulty knocking down Russia’s increasing number of jet-powered drones — and Ukraine’s problems don’t end there. Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi warned journalists this week that Ukraine face...
Olie stroomt weer door Straat van Hormuz, maar nu overweegt Trump exportverbod op diesel: uiteenlopende signalen houden olieprijs hoog De Standaard
Lijnvliegtuig richting Israël moet noodlanding maken na vechtpartij in cockpit, Israëlische ministers spreken van “terreur” De Standaard
LONDON — Britain believes Iran was involved in the incident at a British airbase used by the United States which saw five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism , U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said. Speaking to the BBC, Burnham said: “We will say more in due course but we can confirm … that we believe Iran to have played a part.” Five British men in their 20s were arrested in the early h...
LONDON — French President Emmanuel Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez have welcomed Andy Burnham’s plan to unpick Brexit. Speaking at a joint press conference on Wednesday, Macron said Britain returning to the EU would be “excellent news” while Sanchez said the U.K. would be welcomed “with open arms.” “This is very good news, both for his country and for Europeans,” Macron told r...
LIVERPOOL, England — Nigel Farage will use a speech in a Brexit-backing Labour heartland to start the fightback after Andy Burnham reignited Britain’s EU debate. The Reform UK leader — a key architect of Brexit — will make a “major speech” in Doncaster on Thursday to rail against the Labour prime minister opening the door to a possible return to the bloc, a senior Reform official told POLITICO....
A faster-than-expected inflation jump across the eurozone’s biggest economies raises the odds that the European Central Bank will hike interest rates again this year to bring price growth down to target. The move would add to economic headwinds and sovereign borrowing costs at a time when governments are already grappling with the highest yields since the 2012 sovereign debt crisis. Wednesday’s...
Romania’s parliament rejected Siegfried Mureșan’s attempt to form a government Wednesday, deepening a crisis that began when the coalition collapsed in May. President Nicușor Dan, an independent moderate, proposed MEP Mureșan for the job — but lawmakers in Bucharest refused to back his candidacy in a crunch vote Wednesday. It is the second time parliament has formally voted down Dan’s nominee —...
Pourquoi Kim Jong-un peut garder la bombe atomique ? La réponse très personnelle de Donald Trump RTBF
Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Sky News A lot has been said about the prime minister’s first speech as leader at the Labour Party conference. But what didn’t Andy Burnham say? Have the public understood the new PM’s big policy offer? And why was there nothing substantial on welfare reform? Sam Coates and Anne McElvoy examine the headline polling on the Burnham speech – whether the p...
LIVERPOOL, England — British Prime Minister Andy Burnham made clear that an attempt to rejoin the European Union could be among the options his government considers as it eyes a fundamental shift in the country’s relationship with the bloc. Burnham told the governing Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool Tuesday that the Brexit settlement struck by the Conservatives had done “more harm ...
Irak : fin de mission de la coalition antidjihadiste dirigée par les Etats-Unis RTBF
PARIS — In Marine Le Pen’s political world, family has a habit of finding its way back to the center of power. That could now matter more than ever for Jordan Bardella. The 31-year-old president of the far-right National Rally is battling allegations that he exchanged antisemitic messages as a young activist — accusations he has dismissed as “blatant falsehoods.” The controversy comes at an awk...
LIVERPOOL, England — Former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently insisted he does not want to become “a backseat driver” telling Andy Burnham’s new government what to do. But it seems he just can’t help himself. A succession of cabinet ministers and other leading Labour politicians have told POLITICO that Brown, a party elder who was prime minister between 2007 and 2010, contacts them by e...
Minister Verlinden heeft voorstel klaar: euthanasie kan niet als persoon met dementie zich verzet De Standaard
BRUSSELS — EU governments are preparing for the upcoming proposal on the bloc’s next long-term budget to include spending cuts of over €100 billion, four EU diplomats with knowledge of the discussions told POLITICO. Some countries are worried that funding for their pet projects, including farmers’ subsidies and regional payouts, will be slashed by the Irish presidency of the Council of the EU, ...
Donald Trump plaide pour 'l’auto-régulation' de l’IA : les grands patrons adoptent un code de bonne conduite rtbf.be
DUBLIN — European energy officials highlighted handouts and tax cuts as the only viable ways to shield consumers from surging energy costs this winter — while hoping that U.S. President Donald Trump wouldn’t add fuel to the fire by banning American diesel exports. At an informal gathering of European energy ministers on Tuesday in Dublin, the outlook was grim. Natural gas prices are at near fou...
LIVERPOOL, England — Just a few days ago Andy Burnham tried to kill off chatter in his party about a general election, insisting he would serve out the existing mandate until 2029. Yet the new British prime minister’s first speech to his party conference on Tuesday fired the starting gun on that same election, by raising four of the most seismic issues in British politics — then punting them un...
ATHENS — Greek opposition parties are pressing the government to clarify whether Donald Trump’s ambassador threatened a minister to cajole him into line with U.S. energy policies. “Three days after the Wall Street Journal article the Greek government has so far, beyond vague references, declined to deny or confirm the allegations made,” Harry Tzimitras, head of foreign affairs for the left-wing...
BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday Moscow had proven it was not ready for “serious talks” after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized a surprise meeting with his German counterpart. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul held a meeting with Lavrov at the U.N. on Saturday in what marked the first meeting between ministers from the two countries since Russia’s ful...
LIVERPOOL, England — The U.K. faces threats against its energy infrastructure “all the time,” a government minister told the Labour Party annual conference. Speaking at the POLITICO Pub in Liverpool, Energy Minister Michael Shanks said we are living in an “uncertain” and “really scary world.” “There are threats against our energy infrastructure all the time. And we’ve seen in Ukraine very clear...
LIVERPOOL, England — Andy Burnham pledged to undertake the most ambitious review of Brexit since Britain left the EU. But for now at least, he’s keeping all his options open. Speaking at his party’s annual conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, the U.K. prime minister said the current plans to improve the Brexit settlement struck by the last Conservative government were “not enough” and that leavi...
DUBLIN — Des hauts responsables de l’UE se sont montrés prudemment optimistes, mardi, quant à la possibilité que le président américain Donald Trump revienne sur sa menace d’interdire les exportations de diesel pendant quatre-vingt-dix jours, afin de lutter contre la hausse des prix. Auprès de journalistes, le ministre irlandais de l’Energie, Darragh O’Brien, a affirmé que des responsables de l...
