I love a bit of Bloomberg shade www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

A few quick thoughts about this morning's decision. Don't believe the spin from various Russians & others: it's a big deal. The EU has now unambiguously demonstrated that it is able and willing to provide the external financial support Ukraine needs, for as long and as much as it takes. (1/N)

My take on the EU's through-the-night summit to help Ukraine. The main thing is €90bn will find its way to Kyiv—though not funded by Russia's frozen assets. It was a messy deal, from which recriminations will ensue. But Europe got there (mostly) in the end. www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

It's amazing what turns out to be possible when you're staring into the abyss. As far as I can see Article 20, the basis for this EU decision to fund Ukraine, has previously been used for the likes of divorce law harmonisation and patents.

D-Day for Europe to shore up Ukraine funding. As EU leaders huddle in Brussels, Stephen Paduano and I analyse the reparations loan in a new piece. This is not only a "There Is No Alternative" (TINA) moment—but the financial and legal risks are also manageable. 1/ www.cer.eu/insights/ukr...

The official Berlin New Year's party is called "Yeah 2026". www.morgenpost.de/berlin/artic...

Once again, I spoke with @tomnuttall.bsky.social about the #AfD, which continues to #normalise even as it #radicalises - a dynamic we both observed at the founding event of the party's new #youthwing in Gießen. An excellent portrait, with comments by @kai-arzheimer.com and yours truly. 👇

Helpful, clarifying thread.

All members are the coalition are willing, but some are more willing than others.

Germany's #farright: normalised, professionalised, and further radicalised. Excellent portrait by @tomnuttall.bsky.social

People of the Continent, have you ever heard anyone say this?

Europe’s populist right is on the march. “The Intelligence” welcomes Sophie Pedder, Tom Nuttall and Matthew Holehouse for a deep dive into the continent’s differing movements and prospects. Listen now

Good piece on the continuing rise of the AfD in The Economist. Also cool to see some findings cited from our paper with @mbayerlein.bsky.social and Anne Metten on far-right support and industrial decline in Germany, published earlier this year. tinyurl.com/w6v62khz

Made a playlist of my fav tunes from 2025. open.spotify.com/playlist/2Hw...

That's Hungary dealt with. Now on to the final boss: Belgium.

It's taken a long time and required a lot of hard work from a lot of people, but the "they're cancelling Christmas!" culture wars have finally arrived in Germany. Hearty congrats to all involved. www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/vom-b...

Biden made fonts woke

Europol hive mind - do routine events organised by populist-right parties in any country other than Germany attract the sorts of mass protest we saw in Gießen over the weekend? I'm talking tens of thousands on the streets, huge police turnout etc rather than chucking a milkshake over Nigel Farage.

A selection of merch at today's founding congress of the AfD youth wing.

Hercules had 12 tasks. Luckily there's another very big one confronting the Belgian government!

Our new cover story is on the threat posed to German and Europe by China’s industrial model and its decision to exploit its stranglehold on chips/rare earths. Based on my reporting from Berlin and a trot around the Mittelstand in the Black Forest. economist.com/briefing/202...

Just back from a week in Israel/West Bank. Fascinating trip, tho I'll spare the world my half-baked thoughts on the Middle East. But what struck this European was how often I heard Israelis of all stripes, including avowed leftists, repeat what are here usually regarded as far-right tropes (1/3)

"lol," said the Bundesrepublik. "lmao". www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

Eurobonds for Ukraine, say we. www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

With the official prognosis giving one additional seat to PVV and one to FvD compared to the ext poll, the narrative should really not be that the Netherlands/Jetten has beaten the radical right. The far right bloc remains remarkably stable.

Absurd fragmentation of Dutch electorate means everyone can legitimately do a "why the election shows my politics are right" take - perhaps excepting the trad left there's a party of nearly every flavour that did well.

One peculiarity about being a correspondent in Germany is the regularity with which you meet Germans who are completely bemused that someone might be interested enough in their country to choose to live in and write about it.

And I hear that Merz failed to win approval for his proposed pension reform in Germany at the Western Balkans summit. Looks like it was lose-lose :(

we're so back lads :)

"I never thought this man who has been shitposting for over a decade would do a LITERAL shitpost"

The @faznet.bsky.social has discerned a strain of unhappiness among German Christians over gay marriage that I confess has so far eluded me.

Important, deeply reported piece in Stern on the CDU's agonising debate over whether to maintain the anti-AfD "firewall" in its current form. Unless the AfD's rise is somehow arrested, I fear this is a dilemma without a solution. www.stern.de/politik/bran...

Sad news about D'Angelo. Never saw him live, but when I saw Maxwell my main thought was, I wish this was a D'Angelo show. www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVN...

In both Britain and France we are witnessing the agonies of electoral systems ill-suited to political fragmentation and changing voter behaviour. In Germany, for all the grumbling and the pearl-clutching over the Brandmauer, we're not there yet.

The answer is right there: "Our European friends, many of whom are facing similar challenges to us, are thinking hard about partnering with third countries to deport illegal immigrants, and under my leadership this is a conversation the United Kingdom would be part of." Instead....this.

Will FCAS ever take off? One of the most ambitious military projects Europe has ever known is teetering on the edge, thanks to industrial bickering. With help from excellent colleagues @sophiepedder.bsky.social & @shashj.bsky.social www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

German asylum claims have halved in the last year. Nothing to do with border theatre; everything to do with developments outside the EU that hardly ever play a role in European countries' domestic migration debates. Still, take the win if it allows you to change the subject.

The AfD qualified for three mayoral run-offs in cities in North Rhine-Westphalia today, and lost all by big margins. The lesson is not that we have overdone the AfD's rise, but that we do perhaps sometimes underestimate the counter-mobilisation effects - including in east Germany, incidentally.

Spätsommer Brandenburg

"experts say" www.cnn.com/2025/08/11/b...

do Brits realise how demented their ID card debate looks from basically every other European country?

We are delighted to announce The Economist Insider. From next month subscribers will get access to a weekly show from @zannymb.economist.com, our editor-in-chief, plus shows exploring geopolitics, defence, economics and tech. They can also submit questions. Join us: www.economist.com/comingsoon

What this actually means: "The US washes its hands of the conflict altogether; Ukraine seems to be doing fine on its own and it not, it's up to Europe to help it out; no more direct aid to Ukraine; the US now regards NATO as basically European and will help it from afar but not as a member."

For the first time the AfD has nudged ahead of the Union in this national polling aggregator, perhaps Germany's most reliable. Beware cope about the AfD losing this or that mayoral election, including in NRW this coming weekend. Something important is shifting.

So far the rise of the AfD in Germany looks less like a wave across the country than a wedge driven inside it. My report after North Rhine-Westphalia's local elections. www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

I don't really have any Robert Redford takes other than to note that I went to Sundance in 2014 and it was just such a wonderful experience, far better than I'd imagined. Fantastic atmosphere, great films, lovely people.

There's no shortage of copium in the idea that the AfD, in tripling its score in NRW, somehow had a bad night. It's also true that it fell short of expectations, inspired strong resistance from centrist parties, and that some strong local candidates were able to stage effective anti-AfD campaigns.

RIP! www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsnQ...

Sometimes German headlines hit different