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After the virus, the trauma
MILAN — Elena, a single mother of three living in northern Italy, nearly lost her life to the coronavirus — without ever being infected. Even before the pandemic, Elena found that financially...
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In Italy, portraits of young lives put on hold
With more than 36,000 deaths so far — and an infection rate that is again ticking upward — Italy is far from done with the coronavirus crisis. It was the first country in Europe to lock down when the...
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Why thousands are fighting the Bulgarian government: ‘They have no vision for...
SOFIA — Since the beginning of July, a wave of anti-government protests has rocked Bulgaria. Thousands have taken to the streets to protest rampant corruption and a deterioration in the rule of law,...
View ArticleDon’t stop saving ‘zombie’ jobs
Paul Taylor, a contributing editor at POLITICO, writes the Europe At Large column. PARIS — Across Europe, finance ministries are pressing to phase out the furlough schemes that have kept workers idled...
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That’s the sound of 75 million Americans exhaling
On a day that started with U.S. President Donald Trump heading to Virginia for a round of golf and ended with his opponents, the Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, delivering victory speeches,...
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Who hasn’t met Biden?
If Donald Trump was an unknown quantity on the world political stage, his successor is anything but. Serving two terms as vice president under Barack Obama, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden spent eight...
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The anatomy of a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh
DAVID BEK, Armenia — The days leading up to the cease-fire agreement brokered on November 10 to stop fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region are ridden with tension and fear. In the Armenian village...
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In pictures: The stories of 19 COVID-19 survivors
In Spain, as in the rest of the world, people are living in uncertainty caused by the pandemic. The coronavirus has tested our strength and exposed the fragility of our health systems. More than 2.8...
View ArticleStephen Brown and the moral challenge of the midcareer journalist
Altitude is a column by POLITICO founding editor John Harris, offering weekly perspective on politics in a moment of radical disruption. Stephen Brown, the editor-in-chief of POLITICO’s European...
View ArticleMy time on Europe’s haunted seas
Mathilde Auvillain is a journalist and former press officer of the rescue ship MV Aquarius. The memories come floating back like bodies drowned at sea. In October 2016, I joined the crew of a civil...
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Coronavirus’ lost generation
MILAN — After a months-long search, Alessandro Margiotta had finally landed a job as a warehouse worker. The contract was only for six months, but it was better than nothing, he reasoned. Like many...
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Hungary’s African immigrants hope for #BLM reckoning
Kasia Kovacs is a freelance journalist and writer based in London and Budapest. BUDAPEST — For African students studying in Hungarian universities, the recent wave of protests that swept across Europe...
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Empty theaters, unsung operas, canceled tours: Europe’s artists vs. the virus
PARIS — For Europe’s actors, musicians and dancers, the summer months are usually spent crisscrossing the Continent, hopping from one festival to another. Not this year. Although European economies...
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Austria’s most iconic tourist town doesn’t miss the tour buses
HALLSTATT, Austria — As Europe emerges from its coronavirus lockdown, many of its top tourist destinations have remained eerily empty and are scrambling to keep afloat economically. Hallstatt, it turns...
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In Belarus, fighting for democracy — and LGBTQ rights
Andrei Zavalei is a queer activist in Belarus. I have a pidor family. In Belarusian (as well as Russian and Ukrainian), pidor means “faggot.” It’s a derogatory word. I know I should use the term...
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Russians ask: Is Putin’s coronavirus vaccine the real deal?
Vijai Maheshwari is a writer and entrepreneur based in Moscow. He tweets at @Vijaimaheshwari. MOSCOW — Not since underdog Russia beat Spain on penalties in Moscow during the 2018 World Cup have...
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Sweden counts cost of not letting coronavirus spoil its routine
STOCKHOLM — In my Stockholm suburb, the start of the school year last Wednesday was so 2019. My teenage daughter was nearly late for class, my 10-year old son complained about the school lunch, and...
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Connecting Croatia on a bridge built by China
An aerial photo taken in February shows the construction site of the Peljesac Bridge | Gao Lei/Xinhua via Belga DUBROVNIK — Croatia is building a bridge to an island that is not an island. Since the...
View ArticleWho can replace Lukashenko in Belarus?
Maryia Sadouskaya-Komlach is a Belarusian journalist and program coordinator at Free Press Unlimited. WARSAW — Protests in Belarus have sparked feverish debates about a potential transition of power in...
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Coronavirus brings summer of discontent for Europe’s young people
For Generation Z, the summer of 2020 has been “wack” — meaning it stunk. Young Europeans realize that older people face far greater health risks from the coronavirus, and everyone has struggled with...
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‘It’s a miracle’: In Venice, cinema takes first steps out of isolation
VENICE — Walking the streets of the Lido and reading the papers on the first day of the Venice Film Festival, everyone appears to be pinching themselves, wondering whether it is really happening. Six...
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Systemic rivals: How China’s Belt and Road challenges the EU
This article is part of the series Facing China. Bruno Maçães, a former Europe minister for Portugal, is a senior adviser at Flint Global in London and the author most recently of “History Has Begun:...
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On Lesvos, locals and migrants fear ‘another Moria’
LESVOS, Greece — On the surface, Europe appears to have woken up to the urgent humanitarian crisis on Greece’s islands. In the aftermath of the fire that burned Moria — Europe’s biggest refugee camp on...
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This old house: Austria torn over what to do with Hitler’s birthplace
BRAUNAU AM INN, Austria — For years, Austria has wrestled with an uncomfortable question: What do you do with the house where Adolf Hitler was born? From the outside, there is nothing that catches your...
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For young exiles, guarded hope for change in Belarus
Known as the “last dictatorship” in Europe, for decades Belarus has been caught in a tug-of-war between Russia — its former imperial master — and the West. Since 1994, its president, Alexander...
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In pictures: All the trappings of an Election Day, even without a clear winner
Germans took to the polls en masse on Sunday, charged with, among other things, finding a new chancellor. But as the clock ticked over from Sunday night into the wee hours of Monday morning, this much...
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In pictures: As Russia tightens its grip on Kyiv, Ukrainians take stock — and...
OPTICS As Russia tightens its grip on Kyiv, Ukrainians take stock — and go to ground As dawn broke on Friday, it was time to survey the damage from missiles launched on the city overnight. Above:...
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In pictures: A border crossing to safety
OPTICS A CROSSING TO SAFETY A bus carrying Ukrainian refugees arrives at a processing center in Moszczany, Poland. | Photographs by Bradley Secker for POLITICO ON THE POLAND/UKRAINE BORDER More than...
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In pictures: Ukrainians aren’t the only ones running from Russia
OPTICS Lives, relocated: The families fleeing Russia for Turkey Leonid and Anastasia Pashin left Moscow with their son, Daniel, and their cat, Asya, two days after Russia launched its assault on...
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In pictures: Inside Malta’s crowded migrant detention centers
OPTICS In pictures: Inside Malta’s crowded migrant detention centers Inhumane, undignified detainment during the pandemic in Malta By Joanna Demarco and Julian Delia VALLETTA — A Moroccan asylum...
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In pictures: Greenland’s unique take on climate change
OPTICS GREENLAND’S POSITIVESPIN ON CLIMATE CHANGE Icebergs from the Jakobshavn Glacier off the coast of Ilulissat, in western Greenland. | Photographs by Bradley Secker for POLITICO This story was...
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