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    Tony Barber

    European Comment Editor

    Tony Barber is Europe Editor of the Financial Times. He is a former foreign correspondent in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland, the former Soviet Union, the US and the former Yugoslavia.

    Email Tony Barber @TonyBarber8  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)
    Email Tony Barber @TonyBarber8  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)

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    • Sunday, 25 September, 2022
      Instant InsightItalian election
      Likely victory for Italian right portends risks but no lurch into extremism

      Giorgia Meloni stands to become the nation’s first female prime minister but most premiers don’t last a full term

    • Saturday, 17 September, 2022
      Europe ExpressWar in Ukraine
      The Russian nationalist pressure on Putin Premium content

      Hawks with ties to the security apparatus carry more weight than liberal critics of the war on Ukraine

    • Tuesday, 13 September, 2022
      Sweden
      The hard right’s election breakthrough has upset the Swedish apple cart

      Immigration and crime boosted the vote for the Sweden Democrats but foreign and defence policy will not change

    • Saturday, 10 September, 2022
      Europe Express
      Greece faces new troubles at home and abroad Premium content

      Tensions with Turkey, economic difficulties and a secret service scandal put pressure on the Mitsotakis government

    • Wednesday, 7 September, 2022
      Markets InsightEuropean Central Bank
      A forceful ECB rate rise may fail to curb market tensions

      Financing conditions in the eurozone are starting to diverge as inflation takes hold

    • Saturday, 3 September, 2022
      Europe Express
      Germany adapts to a world reshaped by war in Ukraine Premium content

      Defence, energy and economic policies are under potentially far-reaching review after Russia’s attack on Ukraine

    • Friday, 2 September, 2022
      Mikhail Gorbachev
      My memories of Gorbachev in the 1980s

      His aversion to violence and his essential decency helped make Russia freer than at any time in its modern history

    • Saturday, 27 August, 2022
      Europe ExpressWar in Ukraine
      Should Europe ban Russian tourists? Premium content

      The tough approach favoured in Baltic and Nordic countries is not shared across the whole EU

    • Saturday, 20 August, 2022
      Europe Express
      Western neglect and homegrown troubles afflict the Balkans Premium content

      Nato and the EU have done well to contain rising tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, but deep-seated problems persist

    • Tuesday, 16 August, 2022
      ReviewFiction
      The People Immortal by Vasily Grossman — Stalin’s shadow

      This new translation of the Russian-language novelist’s patriotic work hints at his future tests on the limits of Soviet censorship

    • Saturday, 13 August, 2022
      Europe Express
      Asylum under threat at Europe’s borders Premium content

      Illegal EU pushbacks and planned UK deportations are desperate answers to undeniably difficult questions

    • Sunday, 7 August, 2022
      Belarus
      The thirst for freedom in Belarus is unquenchable

      Two years after pro-democracy protests swept the nation, opponents of the Lukashenko regime can take heart from Polish history

    • Saturday, 6 August, 2022
      Europe Express
      Sanctions on Russia are racing against war fatigue in Europe Premium content

      Western countries that back Ukraine face a hard winter but the Russian economy is under severe pressure

    • Saturday, 30 July, 2022
      Europe Express
      Italy after Draghi: good news on the war, not so good on the economy Premium content

      The next government will probably continue to back Ukraine, but the outlook for domestic reform is less promising

    • Saturday, 23 July, 2022
      Europe Express
      Who is losing the economic war — Ukraine, the west or Russia? Premium content

      Debt, inflation, energy and sanctions are just as important as weaponry in figuring out who’s on top

    • Friday, 22 July, 2022
      Italian politics
      Draghi’s undesirable exit reflects time-honoured tradition in Italian politics

      EU allies and financial markets worry that the national reform effort will lose momentum after elections in September

    • Thursday, 21 July, 2022
      Instant InsightItalian politics
      Italy loses Mario Draghi at perilous moment

      Political uncertainty surges in Rome but fears of rudderless chaos may be overdone

    • Wednesday, 20 July, 2022
      EU enlargement
      EU stores up trouble for its Balkan enlargement plans

      European pressure on North Macedonia to accept Bulgaria’s demands will set a bad precedent for the region

    • Wednesday, 13 July, 2022
      ReviewHistory books
      Hoax: The Popish Plot That Never Was — old fake news

      Victor Stater’s fascinating, entertaining history revisits one of the most preposterous conspiracy theories of all time

    • Saturday, 9 July, 2022
      Europe Express
      China’s image loses its shine in Europe Premium content

      Opinion is turning against Beijing because of its human rights record and support for Russia’s attack on Ukraine

    • Saturday, 2 July, 2022
      Europe Express
      War excites speculation about the possible break-up of Russia Premium content

      As the Kremlin looks to annex parts of Ukraine, some analysts are wondering if Putin’s aggression may go dramatically wrong

    • Saturday, 25 June, 2022
      Europe Express
      A gust of instability unsettles European politics Premium content

      Domestic challenges as much as the war in Ukraine are turning up the pressure in France, Bulgaria and Italy

    • Thursday, 23 June, 2022
      Summer Books 2022
      Best summer books of 2022: History

      Tony Barber selects his best mid-year reads

    • Wednesday, 22 June, 2022
      Russian politics
      Putinism delays a reformist turn in the cycle of Russian history

      A less repressive system will surely emerge one day, but the west’s influence over political change will be limited

    • Saturday, 18 June, 2022
      Europe Express
      The EU’s uneasy steps in securing judicial reform in Poland Premium content

      Brussels holds the key to billions of euros in recovery fund money for a government defiant on the rule of law

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