Tsipras’s last friend in Europe
PARIS — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras discovered Monday that he still had at least one friend in Europe: François Hollande. The Socialist French president, who has taken a lower profile to German...
View ArticleEU’s ‘divorce clause’ isn’t made for Greece
When French MEP Alain Lamassoure first suggested 12 years ago that European Union member countries should have the option of leaving the bloc if they so choose, Greece was the furthest thing from his...
View ArticleNo market panic over Greek default
Financial markets are taking Greece’s default in stride. Despite the Greek government’s failure late Tuesday to honor a €1.6 billion payment to the International Monetary fund, several asset classes...
View ArticleLegality of referendum challenged
As his snap referendum on financial bailout terms approaches, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras faces a rising chorus of criticism that the plebiscite does not conform to basic democratic rules. The...
View ArticleLe Pen unfazed by father’s legal victory
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said members of her National Front party would decide definitively whether to keep her father in the group, brushing off a court ruling that canceled a move to...
View ArticleMarket verdict: No to panic, yes to uncertainty
In market terms, the reaction to “Greferendum” has been more of a tremor than an earthquake. While many financial institutions were caught off guard by the overwhelming victory of Greece’s No camp, the...
View ArticleMerkel’s European dilemma
ATHENS — Angela Merkel’s European coalition on Greece may be about to crack. Ever since Greece’s leftist Syriza party rose to power in January elections, Berlin has managed to keep the eurozone on...
View ArticleFrance has Varoufakis envy
French leftists are tired of their suit-and-tie wearing socialist government. They want motorcycles. They want leather jackets. They want former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. After watching...
View ArticleParis in last-minute push to save Greece
PARIS — With Greece facing a final ultimatum on its membership in the eurozone, French negotiators are providing minute-by-minute advice to Athens to ensure their latest proposals can be accepted by...
View ArticleHollande to Merkel: What planet are you on?
When Angela Merkel traveled to Paris this week to meet François Hollande, the idea was to show a united Franco-German front in the Greek crisis. That impression lasted for six minutes — the amount of...
View ArticleInsiders: EU should slash Greece’s debt
As creditors and finance ministers weigh Greece’s latest offer, POLITICO’s Transatlantic Caucus believes Europe should act to relieve Athens’ debt burden despite frustration with Prime Minister Alexis...
View ArticleHollande’s victory
There were moments during the Greek crisis when French calls to keep the country in the eurozone sounded out of tune with the rest of the bloc, and others when they sounded like desperate howling from...
View ArticleDSK rides comeback trail — through Cuba
PARIS — Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn wants to make a comeback on the international stage but not in France, where he has still not forgiven one-time political allies...
View ArticleIn France, desperately seeking Tsipras
PARIS — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is casting a long shadow over France’s 2017 presidential election. While French cheerleading for Tsipras’ act of rebellion against the EU has tapered off...
View ArticleHollande’s ‘two-speed’ fantasy
PARIS — French President François Hollande’s suggestion this week of moving toward a two-speed Europe elicited the sort of groans one hears when a movie is replayed on television two nights in a row:...
View ArticleMeet the Osborne
PARIS — British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne succeeded during a trip to Paris Monday in avoiding an overt clash over his government’s demands for an overhaul of European Union rules. And...
View ArticleHollande’s risky reelection bet
PARIS — For a master of ambiguity, Francois Hollande was remarkably clear when he told journalists that unless France starts creating jobs, he won’t run for reelection in 2017. “If there are no...
View ArticleJean-Marie Le Pen wins legal reprieve from ouster
Jean-Marie Le Pen will not go quietly — or perhaps at all. A court in Versailles ruled Tuesday that French far-right leader Marine Le Pen could not ask National Front members to decide via a mail-in...
View ArticleMarine Le Pen’s gloomy summer
PARIS — At a Paris restaurant a few weeks ago, one of Marine Le Pen’s closest allies declared that a long-running feud between the National Front president and her father was officially over. “It’s...
View ArticleNobody’s problem
CALAIS, France — To a group of Sudanese migrants in the French port city of Calais, the dream of reaching Britain is worth any sacrifice — even the risk of death. The group of six men, aged 18 to 31,...
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