The triggers I thought were filed away — in my mind, in my chest, in the way I now glance at strangers on the U-Bahn — rose at once. Today I’m going to my work in Germany feeling, for the first time, afraid of people. Sadly.
That Germany’s Holocaust guilt matters less than Palestinian and Lebanese livesThe EU Commission will bring forward a proposal on import bans against Israeli settlers, but will it be a trade measure, which doesn’t need unanimity, or sanctions, which do?
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.
Relatives of ‘Ulm 5’ pro-Palestinian activists tell EUobserver of degrading prison conditions, as Germany sells tanks to Israel for Gaza warfare.
Germany’s Nazi family search app explains (some of) the guilt behind Berlin’s soft line on IsraelWith the release of the ‘Find Out What Your Family Did Under Hitler’ app by Der Spiegel, Germans can now find shocking details of their grandparents lives one tap away on their smartphones.
THIS WEEK: Magyar heads to Brussels to unlock Hungary’s frozen EU recovery money by 31 August Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar is expected in Brussels to negotiate the release of €10.4bn in frozen EU recovery funds. In Cyprus, foreign affairs ministers meet informally to discuss Iran and Russia. A new strategy on humanitarian aid will be unveiled by the EU Commission on Wednesday.
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.
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has sparked controversy after Vladimir Putin suggested he could help negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. Is Schröder a legitimate bridge to peace, or the ultimate Trojan horse in Russia’s hybrid war?
It’s time to recognise that NGOs and civic space are not simply “shrinking” across Europe. As our report shows, it is being actively restricted by anti-rights actors seeking to promote their agendas, silence debate, and exclude communities whose rights they seek to undermine.
Germany’s historical struggle and the legal debate on Israel’s right to existIt seems clear that making it a crime to deny a state’s right to exist sends a strong message. It puts the legitimacy of one country off-limits for public debate, which can be problematic in a democracy like Germany.
After taking office in May 2025, following a snap election, Friedrich Merz has steered Germany through a period of significant geopolitical and economic transition. One year in, Merz faces record unpopularity — so what can we make of his record so far?
In response to the Strait of Hormuz oil crisis, Germany, Lithuania and the Netherlands are showing the way to provide cheap rail fares to their citizens – which EU country is next?
Responsibility for Europe reads differently from Bratislava than from Brussels. The new German defence strategy is worth reading carefully, particularly from the capitals whose security still depends on German territory. Responsibility for Europe will be defined in the next decade by what Berlin does if Washington no longer underwrites European defence at previous levels. Germany has now stated, in writing, that this is the planning horizon.
![“‘Fuck AfD [Alternative for Germany]’ reads a placard at a German demo against the far-right party, which in 2023 secretly advocated for ‘remigrating’ millions of German citizens (Photo: Unsplush)](https://static.euobserver.com/2024/05/b2c619b6-b2ca-4dd7-a490-ac7070c7dc94-8b882efc-c4a2-41db-af80-e18ae66508e0-aa58df87-50f7-4989-aa68-bc706e74cbc9.jpeg)
The war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran is exposing a growing problem. What once looked like a coherent far-right political alignment is increasingly strained by the realities of governing in a volatile global economy. Ideological affinity is one thing, but national interest is quite the other.
A summit on Sudan’s future, jointly hosted by the EU on Wednesday, will gather dozens of the African country’s civilian political leaders as its civil war enters its fourth year.
Germany reintroduced systematic military registration in January 2026. The controversial law mandates medical exams for young men and requires those aged 17–45 to seek permission for long-term stays abroad. Amidst public confusion and youth protests, the government is now working to amend the controversial travel approval process.
The late, great, German philosopher Jürgen Habermas should posthumously be awarded the Honorary Citizenship of the EU for his contribution to European democracy. The granting of this extraordinary status is a self-given prerogative of the European Council. So far, it has been bestowed upon after their death to political protagonists like Jean Monnet, Helmut Kohl and Jacques Delors.
Appeasement has not prevented Donald Trump from temporarily suspending military aid to Ukraine, repeatedly threatening sweeping tariffs on European exports, or even suggesting the use of force to annex the sovereign territory of a Nato ally – Greenland. It has not prevented the US from launching a military operation against Iran that risks undermining European security, empowering the Kremlin, and potentially triggering a global economic downturn.
“History shows that suppression of the legal profession is both a symptom and an instrument of democratic decline,” said the ‘amicus’ brief, on behalf of 1 million European lawyers.
The far-right’s unity unravels when the debate shifts from domestic grievances on migration and climate-change denial to foreign policy. Nowhere is this clearer than in their response to the US-Israeli war of choice in Iran. Far-right parties across Europe are divided – both internally and among themselves – over how to respond to the US-Israeli war of choice in Iran – and so are their voters.
