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Cabinet will reassure the business world EU

Cabinet will reassure the business world

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“Barnier’s cabinet is likely to reassure the business world. … First in terms of method: the prime minister is consulting experts widely and has undertaken to continue doing so in preparation for his government policy statement. This marks the beginning of a culture of compromise that is quite foreign to France. And secondly in the choice of personnel: there are few or no big names in this team, but the ministers are experts in their fields and will be careful not to break with the dynamic created over the past seven years. … With the cast, the method and the direction now set, the 2025 budget will be the acid test.”

Momentum to the right in Europe Europe

Momentum to the right in Europe

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“If you zoom out of France and look at the whole of Europe, you see that by appointing Michel Barnier as prime minister the once moderate Emmanuel Macron has brought his country into line with many of its neighbours. On the same weekend, the AfD only narrowly lost to the SPD in the Brandenburg elections. … In Belgium, a poll published on Saturday showed a Flanders that is further to the right in its voting preferences than ever before – Vlaams Belang is on form. … Above all, these events mark the end of a week in which the new EU Commission has been dominated by the right.”

Ireland has little influence in EU EU

Ireland has little influence in EU

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“Forget the soothing diplomatic tones from Dublin – justice is a portfolio nobody wanted. Justice means guaranteed (and often personalised) conflict with states such as Hungary and Slovakia. … The reality is that in a decade Ireland has gone from holding agriculture and rural development (a third of the EU budget), to trade (the crown jewel of the EU’s competencies) via financial services (stripped of the important bits) to the thankless task of policing wannabe European dictators under a ‘democracy shield’.”

Italy’s PM is the real winner EU

Italy’s PM is the real winner

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“The post-fascist has managed to place one of her loyal followers, Raffaele Fitto, in one of the most influential posts in the Commission. He will become vice-president and commissioner for cohesion and reforms. This means he will be responsible for the European Social Fund and a fund for regional development, among other things. Meloni is over the moon about this decision, as it secures her additional power and influence in Brussels. However with this appointment, Ursula von der Leyen has lodged a political time bomb in her own Commission. Many members of the European Parliament are quite rightly appalled and have announced their opposition to the far-right Italian.”

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