![VDL will do her work ‘dictatorial’, without any consultation or any say or interference of anyone else. Her favourite way of doing her job.](/articlefiles/eurocomstars_.png)
The autocracy of the European Commission presidency
Now Ursula von der Leyen has cemented her second term as President of the European Commission, it is up to her and nobody else to distribute the commissioner’s portfolios
![In a nutshell, Meloni will increase her leverage toward socialists and liberals.](/articlefiles/melonii_.png)
Meloni eyes EU comeback
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, July 17, 2024
After being isolated in EU top jobs talks, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is now on track for a comeback in Brussels
![But there is a problem. Before the EU elections, the EPP wanted a ‘more pragmatic’ approach to green policies, President Von der Leyen followed her group and took a step back on the Green Deal.](/articlefiles/ousidethecommission_.png)
Meloni or the Greens, that’s the question for VDL
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Von der Leyen’s re-election as President of the European Commission is not a race that already has been run
![All the alarm bells have been going off for some time, but the Democrats pretend not to hear it and stubbornly clinging to Joe Biden.](/articlefiles/voteamericanelections_.png)
The overconfidence of Biden and the Democrats
By: N. Peter Kramer | Tuesday, July 2, 2024
‘The only time he showed any combativeness was when he was challenged by Donald Trump to brag about his golf handicap’
![The absurd situation arose that Austrian Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler, a former professional activist and member of the Green party, voted in favour of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation act contrary to her government instructions.](/articlefiles/austriaeu_.png)
Nature restoration law pushed through illegally by Green minister
By: N. Peter Kramer | Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Last week political history has been made in the European Union
![The G7 decided to use the interest on some 280 billion euros of frozen Russian assets with Western financial institutions for a long-term loan of 50 billion euros to Ukraine.](/articlefiles/g7_.png)
The G7 wants to project strength, but the traditional group photo shows its weakness
By: N. Peter Kramer | Tuesday, June 18, 2024
An 81-year-old Biden trailing Trump in the polls; Macron and Scholz who have just been defeated by the far right; Sunak on his last G7 meeting before his election defeat
MORE ARTICLES
![With a strong performance of her centre-right European Peoples Party (EPP), incumbent President von der Leyen is ready for the next part of her reappointment battle.](/articlefiles/ursula_.png)
Von der Leyen on the way to continue her Commission Presidency
By: N. Peter Kramer | Monday, June 10, 2024
The results of the EP election are strengthening von der Leyen’s reappointment bid
![Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia belongs to the ECR. She has moderated her tones after her national victory a year and a half ago. The Economist recently even called her ‘Mainstream Meloni’.](/articlefiles/georgiaa_.png)
Polls predict a major radical right victory
By: N. Peter Kramer | Tuesday, June 4, 2024
There has been speculation about a major victory in the EU Parliament elections for what is variously called radical right
![Von der Leyen has taken a different course at the last minute under pressure from farmers revolts all over the EU and the upcoming elections. The above-mentioned centre-left coalition was and is still furious about her move.](/articlefiles/vonder___1_.png)
Ursula for President
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, May 22, 2024
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is on a re-election campaign tour along EU capitals
![The international well known far-right Freedom Party (PVV) leader Geert Wilders will not become prime minister but, as head of the largest party, may nominate a candidate for this function.](/articlefiles/dutch__2.png)
Dutch political parties agreed a right-wing government
By: EBR | Thursday, May 16, 2024
Four political factions with together a feasible majority in the Dutch parliament agreed to form a right-wing government
![The difference is even more glaring looking at GDP (gross domestic product): the Eurozone around €15 trillion, the US already at €27 trillion!](/articlefiles/eurozone_.png)
‘Complete the internal market’
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, May 1, 2024
‘Complete the internal market’, former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta writes in “The independent High-Level Report on the future of the Single Market”
![According to the French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau, this will enable ‘greater consideration to be given to agriculture and food sovereignty’ in public policies, to make them a priority.](/articlefiles/frenchagri_.png)
Is France setting the tone for modern agricultural laws?
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Following promises made to protesting farmers, the French government has presented a new draft of the agricultural policy law
![The judgment said that ‘The threat to public order appears to be deduced solely from the reactions that its organisation could arouse among opponents’. The principle of proportionality requires ‘…that measures are taken to curb demonstrations on public roads, rather than banning meetings in a closed space’,](/articlefiles/brusselsroads_.png)
‘Free debate and exchange of views is vital. Even when you disagree’.
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will speak today at the National Conservatism Conference in Brussels, a two-day far-right conference
![In 2020-2021, the European Commission prepared a report for the first time on the risks of strategic dependencies in the industry.](/articlefiles/reactor_.png)
An ‘EU war economy’? A hype!
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Cotton and weapons, it doesn’t seem like an obvious match
![Looking at the fervent and pitiless way of handling his case, concerns about Assange’s ability to express his views freely and possible sentenced to death in the US are absolutely serious.](/articlefiles/freeassagne_.png)
Respite for Wikileaks founder Assange
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange can stay in the United Kingdom for at least another two months
![Faced with the farmer revolts in his own country and the poor polling numbers for his party in the run up to the EP elections, Macron decided to join Tusk and the other Eastern European member states.](/articlefiles/agri_.png)
Farmers win the battle: EU brakes on imports of Ukrainian grain
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, March 20, 2024
This explicit support no longer applies to the agricultural products that Ukraine exports to the EU!
![Experts mentioned that China is less importing from the EU because they are substituting these imports. After special measures, China is more and more capable of building goods on its own.](/articlefiles/tradeeuchina_.png)
EU-China trade slips with 27%!
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Eurostat, the EU official statistic office, found that the EU’s trade deficit with China slid 27% in 2023, to €291 billion down from €397 billion in 2022
![A public secret in Brussels, is that VDL fails to consult others when making decisions. May be the most unbelievable example is the dubious deal she made, without consulting the commission and the member-states, with Pfizer CEO Bourla.](/articlefiles/euvdl_.png)
VDL: Commission President and Candidate
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, February 28, 2024
A week ago, at a press conference, Commission President von der Leyen nixed talk about the next step for Ukraine’s membership of the EU before this June’s EU Parliamentary elections
![Although the West has long maintained that ‘the sanctions are working’, the Russian economy is closing the second year of the war surprisingly.](/articlefiles/rubles_.png)
The World is bigger than the West
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, February 14, 2024
March 2022, the Russian rouble crashed, the value in London of Gazprom and Sberbank fell 97%
![The plan to halve pesticide use ‘has become a symbol of polarisation’, she said and announced that the proposal will be withdrawn.](/articlefiles/pestisides_.png)
Von der Leyen takes down the EU flagship ‘Green Deal’
By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, February 7, 2024
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (VDL) is attacking the political legacy of former Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans