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Merkel, Barnier and the doomed DB-NYSE merger
The Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext exchange mega-merger is dead, the objections of competition officials prevailed, but it followed a tremendous political tussle in Brussels, full of intrigue and skulduggery. Here are some of the snippets from the...
Greece viewer’s guide: What are we waiting for?
As the week comes to an end, we seem no closer to a deal to sort out Greece’s troubles than we were when it started. With rumours of a deal a daily (hourly?) occurrence, and questions over whether eurozone finance …Continue reading: "Gre...
Who’s the highest-profile European Commissioner?
In Brussels, being a member of the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, is about as high as an official can climb in the eurocracy. But just how well are those Brussels luminaries known back in their home countries? Thanks …Contin...
The EU gas crisis that wasn’t
When word filtered out on Tuesday that Russia’s Gazprom would be capping its gas shipments to the European Union, a shiver went through an unusually frigid Brussels. After two major supply cuts in the last ten years – the most …Continue re...
Is Portugal really the next Greece?
As financial markets watch with nervous anticipation the outcome of the tense negotiations over Greece’s debt restructuring, there is clear evidence that bond investors believe Portugal could be next, despite repeated insistence by European leaders...
A striking coincidence for Monday’s EU summit
Monday’s meeting of EU leaders is meant to focus on growth and jobs, which makes it all the more ironic that it will likely be heavily disrupted by a general strike called by Belgian unions on the same day. The …Continue reading: "A striking...
In big Obama speech, a European absence
The news overnight focused on President Barack Obama’s annual State of the Union address. For the Brussels crowd, the most interesting thing in the speech may have been what was not in the speech: Europe. Despite the ongoing eurozone crisis, &helli...
Steelie Neelie takes on the Hungarians
Viktor Orban is in Brussels today on the second part of a charm offensive designed to cool tensions between Budapest and the European Union. Last week he flattered the European parliament by dropping in on its second home in Strasbourg …Contin...
The Daily Hungarian: Orban faces more heat
The buzz around Brussels since Viktor Orban’s appearance before the European parliament Wednesday has been that the Hungarian prime minister got the better of the parliamentarians, coming across as conciliatory and reasonable in the face of occasio...
Live blog: Viktor Orban at the EU parliament
Welcome to our live coverage of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban’s appearance before the European parliament, where he intends to defend his government’s recent actions against accusations they are anti-democratic. All times are GMT. The Bru...
Brussels takes another whack at Orban
Viktor Orban, Hungary’s combative prime minister, already had a lengthy list of Brussels’ critiques to rebut during an address today at the European parliament in Strasbourg, which the Brussels Blog is planning to live blog when it begins at 3pm...
An awkward start to Denmark’s EU presidency
A good chunk of the Brussels press corps has been in Copenhagen this week for the formal kick-off of Denmark’s turn at the EU’s 6-month rotating presidency. Days of back-to-back ministerial briefings and ceremonial events have focused intensively...
Can Hungary avoid rebuke? Leaked letter makes case
The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, will meet tomorrow in Copenhagen amidst their ongoing investigation of new laws just passed by the Hungarian government of Viktor Orban, which have drawn accusations his ruling Fidesz party is usi...
Joyeux Noel et Bonne Année!
The gang here at the FT’s Brussels Blog is heading off for the holidays. Thanks to all our readers, a group that keeps growing by the day. Over the last year, we’ve seen our traffic skyrocket…probably because of the eurozone &hellip...
Budapest and Brussels on a collision course?
Perhaps because it is not in the eurozone, the recent turbulence in Hungary has not gotten a huge amount of attention internationally. But Budapest and Brussels are currently on a collision course that could have significant consequences for the regi...
EU summiteers to cross picket lines?
Herman Van Rompuy, the European Council president, announced overnight (via his now customary way of communicating to the press: Twitter) that he will hold a previously-unscheduled summit of all 27 presidents and prime ministers on January 30. The ga...
The euro crisis is about to get fishy for UK
Has the UK lost its influence in Europe? That has become the conventional wisdom in Brussels after prime minister David Cameron last week spurned France and Germany by refusing to sign up to a new “fiscal compact” to further integrate the bloc
[UPDATED] New EU treaty: leaked Corsepius letter
UPDATE: According to a British official, the UK has today been invited to participate in the treaty negotiations, a significant shift that will allow London to weigh in on some of the most sensitive issues to be discussed, including whether …C...
EU treaty problems? Cameron is not alone.
This morning, we are fronting our newspaper with a story led by fellow Brussels Blogger Joshua Chaffin about the growing problems in multiple European capitals — not just London — with the nascent economic convergence treaty agreed to a...
Zu Guttenberg’s Brussels political comeback
Journalists arriving early for the European Commission’s daily midday briefing Monday caught a once-familiar figure in the press room: Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the former German defence minister who resigned in disgrace earlier this year after i...
