As Marine Le Pen elbows aside the ambitious Jordan Bardella to stand in next year’s presidential elections after her surprise court reprieve, France’s political class is bracing for a brutal showdown over who really controls the country’s future course.
![Rima Hassan in her Brussels office: '[It's] not merely a lack of courage; it is a criminal policy to advocate for a two-state solution today'](/aws-https-static.euobserver.com/2026/07/DSC_0345-2-2400x1602.jpg)
Rima Hassan MEP has seen displacement, an Israeli prison, refugee camps, and since becoming a politician just two years ago, has faced 22 legal proceedings. But the Left Franco-Palestinian MEP will not stop denouncing ‘the genocide that is currently taking place’.
Three Epstein-linked men, including Siad, have now died before trial, leaving victims to piece together the network with journalists instead of judges.
France is leading for the way for the EU to restrict youth access to social media, but its blanket ban poses concern to critics of the Australian model for not addressing the root cause of the problem.
The EU Parliament voted almost two-to-one to scrutinise the hard-right Europe of Sovereign Nations group for its use of discriminatory language, possibly leading to a loss of EU funds. In a bad day for the far-right, Marine Le Pen lost her appeal in Paris.
As hospitals overheat, schools close and thousands of elderly people die, France’s Greens and far right are tearing into each other over whether mass air‑conditioning is a lifeline or a dangerous illusion.
As Giorgia Meloni turns Italy into a test case of far-right rule, her mix of compromise in Brussels and hardline policies at home is quietly shaping how France’s National Rally sells itself to wary voters.
With hundreds of athletes lining up behind Mbappé’s call to block the National Rally, the battle over France’s next president is spilling from parliament into living rooms and football stadiums.
French president Emmanuel Macron has invited leaders of the world’s so-called ‘middle powers’ to a G7 summit that starts on Monday.
Global resettlement figures have dropped by some 50 percent to 81,800 in a downward trend that points to the general political backlash against migration and asylum in the US and in Europe.
An advocate-general at the European Court of Justice suggested judges dismiss a case from the French parliament, which wants to annul EU rules on relocating asylum seekers.
Across Europe, those who fish with the least impact are often the ones who struggle the most to make a living. For years, small-scale fishers have been facing dwindling stocks, the effects of climate change, increasing pollution, complex regulations and, above all, the gradual concentration of fishing rights in the hands of the largest industrial operators. The crux of the problem lies in the way fishing quotas are allocated.
Confusion reigns on the future of a Rwandan-led mission in Mozambique for which EU funding ends on Sunday.
Trouble starts when the centrist parties begin to sound alike. When moderate left and moderate right converge into a governing centre, voters lose real choice within the system. When democracy loses its internal opposition, it begins producing external opposition. This is the consensus trap.
Emmanuel Macron says France is an ‘ethical partner’ for African countries as he seeks to increase Paris’s diplomatic and economic influence on the continent. However, diplomatic immunity for French troops, no-shows from Brussels, and an angry Macron hushing a crowd nearly overshadowed the event.
Dozens of political leaders and business bosses will gather in the Kenyan capital this week, hosted by France’s Emmanuel Macron and Kenya’s William Ruto. But will amount to more than hot air?
In a strategic about-face, the Czech Republic is looking to join French President Emmanuel Macron’s initiative to build a pan-European nuclear deterrent.
“The ever and fast deteriorating situation calls for such action [on Israel”, a joint Franco-Swedish proposal said.
Emmanuel Macron is slowly reaching the end of his two terms as president of the French Republic. But who will succeed him?
A leading Palestinian human rights advocate has been refused a visa to address the European Parliament, despite both Belgium and the Netherlands being prepared to grant entry.
