Governments – B2 Pro The daily newspaper of geopolitical Europe

Alice Rufo alongside Sébastien Lecornu in May 2025 for the DGRIS ten-year symposium (Photo: Min. Defense - Archives B2)

[Portrait] Catherine Vautrin and Alice Rufo: a duo of women in the Armed Forces

October 15th 2025 Nicolas Gros Verheyde Alice Rufo, Catherine Vautrin, France, Defense Minister 4 min read

(B2) The new French Minister of the Armed Forces is taking part in her first Council of Ministers (Defense) meeting in Brussels this Wednesday, October 15. With no press briefing planned for this defense expert…

Bruno Le Maire at the Energy Council on March 4, 2024 (photo: EU)

[Portrait] Bruno Le Maire appointed Minister of the Armed Forces… resigned (v2)

October 6th 2025 Nicolas Gros Verheyde Biography, Budget, EU Defense, Debt, Lecornu Government, Defense Minister, SCAF, EU-NATO 7 min read

(B2) Appointed French Minister of the Armed Forces on Sunday, October 5, the former Minister of the Economy should have assumed a shaky interim role. Yet he has several strings to his bow. Starting with...

Post-election meeting (selection B2 - ANO-News18 feed)

[Decryption] Czech Republic. Babis wins the elections. Hands down. Changes to come? (v3)

October 4th 2025 Nicolas Gros Verheyde Andrew Babis, elections, F-35, NATO, Ammunition Plan, Defense policy, stocks, Support for Ukraine, Czech Republic 10 min read

(B2) The Czech elections, held on Friday and Saturday, October 3-4, resulted in the return to the stage of ANO, the party of billionaire Andrej Babiš. Still on a European line. But with its…

[Portrait] Private Lecornu sent to the slaughter

September 10, 2025 B2 Writing France, government 5 min read

(B2) Promoted to Matignon, Sébastien Lecornu inherits the reform files and the recipes that his predecessor failed to implement. Failing to reform, he will try to...

Caspar Veldkamp, January 23, 2025 in Brussels. (Consilium)

[News] Netherlands: Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp resigns due to lack of sanctions against Israel

August 25, 2025 Mathis Delamare Caspar Veldkamp, démission, Gaza, Israel, Netherlands, Sanctions 4 min read

(B2) Having failed to reach an agreement to adopt the additional sanctions against the Hebrew state that he had promised, the Dutchman threw in the towel on Friday, August 22, thus aggravating the political crisis in...

[News] Lithuania: Government jumps amid Prime Minister's conflict of interest

August 3, 2025 Nicolas Gros Verheyde Brief, Conflict of interest, démission, government, Lithuania 2 min read

(B2) Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas announced on Thursday, July 31, his decision to resign as Prime Minister. A new government is to be formed. "Despite...

Military Court Warsaw (Credit: WSOzW)

[Case Law] Early retirement of military judges in Poland is illegal

July 6, 2025 Nicolas Gros Verheyde Brief, Rule of law, Military justice, NonNotif, Poland 2 min read

(B2) This law is contrary to the principle of irremovability of judges and cannot be justified by any objective reason, states the Court of Justice of the EU in a judgment delivered...

[Decryption] Presidential Election in Poland. Ukraine's NATO Membership Blocked in Two Rounds

June 2, 2025 Nicolas Gros Verheyde NATO membership, Qualified majority, NATO, Poland, Military support for Ukraine, EU Treaty 5 min read

(B2) kyiv has just lost one of its most staunch supporters. The victory on Sunday, the first day, by the PiS candidate, Karol Nawrocki, ideologically allied with the nationalist far-right, signals the end of a…

Berlin © NGV / B2

[In Brief] The New German Coalition's Defense Priorities

10 April 2025 Olivier Jehin Germany, Brief, Bundeswehr, defense investments 1 min read

(B2) The Christian unions CDU and CSU and the social democratic party SPD have managed to conclude a coalition agreement in six weeks. Presented on Wednesday, April 9, by the future…

Friedrich Merz, CDU, during a debate in the Bundestag.

[News] The return of a grand coalition in Berlin. With what room for evolution for German policy in Europe?

February 24st, 2025 Olivier Jehin Germany, NATO, European Security, Ukraine, European Union 3 min read

(B2) The German parliamentary elections have reshuffled the political cards, opening the way to the chancellery for Christian Democrat Friedrich Merz. He is hoping for a coalition agreement by Easter….

Sébastien Lecornu visiting French troops in the United Arab Emirates, November 20, 2024 (©FFEAU Alindien)

[News] French government censorship: a catastrophe in sight for the armies?

6 December 2024 Romain Mielcarek Budget, France, Michel Barnier 3 min read

(B2) In recent days, members of the relative majority and opponents have been accusing each other of jeopardizing the military budget. What is the reality? Michel Barnier has officially handed over...

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's future Secretary of Defense, right, in 2023. (©USMC/Staff Sgt. Theodore Bergan)

[Portrait] Trump puts his team in place to lock down his power

November 13, 2024 Romain Mielcarek Donald Trump, John ratcliffe, Kristi Noem, Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, Pete Hegseth 6 min read

(B2) More than any rhetoric, the team that will surround President Trump reveals a policy: tough on China, firm with the Europeans. Unlike Trump's first term,…

[In Brief] Donald Trump's victory. Contrasting reactions in the European Parliament

November 6, 2024 Emmanuelle Stroesser Brief, EU Defense, elections, United States, NATO, European Parliament 1 min read

(B2) From the most joyful (Patriots) to the most worried (Greens), the reactions to the results of the American elections are unsurprising. But explicit. In the corridors of the European Parliament as well as...

Jean-Noël Barrot (Photo: Quai d'Orsay)

[Alert] Names to know in the new French government (v2)

September 21, 2024 Nicolas Gros Verheyde Biography, France, Michel Barnier, Minister of Foreign Affairs 3 min read

(B2) Delivered with some difficulty, Michel Barnier's first government was announced early Saturday evening (September 21). The changes in the sovereign sphere of the State mark...

Michel Barnier at the European Council in October 2020 (photo: EU - B2 archives)

[Portrait] The European Michel Barnier appointed Prime Minister. His constants, his passions

September 5, 2024 Nicolas Gros Verheyde France, government 8 min read

(B2) After much hesitation, French President Emmanuel Macron has finally chosen Republican Michel Barnier to lead a coalition government. With one goal: to unite. The choice seems logical….

Andriy Sybiha (Gov. Ukraine)

[In Brief] Reshuffle in Ukraine. Kuleba leaves

September 5, 2024 Nicolas Gros Verheyde Foreign Affairs, Brief, Reshuffle, Ukraine 1 min read

(B2) The Ukrainian government is experiencing a series of departures and arrivals. Particularly at the level of Foreign Affairs. But these are more movements, strengthening the Zelensky team. Departure of a heavyweight...

[Portraits] British Government. The ministers who matter in London

July 18, 2024 B2 Writing government, United Kingdom 6 min read

(B2) A rapid change of government in the United Kingdom following the Labour Party's triumph in the July 4 snap election. Back in power for the first time…

The opposition of the cohabitation Prime Minister (1997-2002) Lionel Jospin to the military intervention plan of President Jacques Chirac in 1999 is the most striking case of a breakdown in consensus. (©Christian Lambiotte / European Communities)

[Decryption] President and Prime Minister of cohabitation, the ambiguities of the Constitution do not resist the custom of the French regime

July 13, 2024 Romain Mielcarek Cohabitation, Constitution, Emmanuel Macron, France, Defense white paper, NonNotif, Prime minister 6 min read

(B2) Following the dissolution of June 11 followed by legislative elections on July 7, the composition of the French National Assembly suggests a new cohabitation. Many questions arise...

← Previous