Macron's gamble in dissolving parliament has backfired, and the legislature will be reshaped after a surge in support for populism. But an outright majority after run-off voting looks unlikely.
Macron and Scholz have suffered humiliating defeats triggering concern of a bigger shift to the right in France and Germany. If this happens, Europe's power balance could fundamentally transform.
For decades the far right sat on the periphery of Western politics, dismissed as angry skinheads or deluded neo-Nazis by the centrist mainstream. No longer.
A big pro-EU bloc should still hold sway even if the ultra-nationalists make gains. More broadly, the results will act as a barometer of public mood in the first vote since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Twin fears of an inward-looking Donald Trump and a westward-looking Vladimir Putin have left officials in Europe's treasuries urgently revising their budgets to make room for more defence spending.
It is curious that amid the global attention on the Gaza war, very few commentators have remarked on the way that European imperialism laid the foundations for the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The political goal was a US and European effort to demonstrate the capacity for connectivity idea generation, or less generously, to try and out-China the Chinese Belt Road Initiative.
This week's cover story details how militia influence undermines state institutions, deepens sectarian divisions and creates security vacuums that IS could exploit
Ukraine's former foreign minister is pragmatic about the war, peace talks, Kyiv's opponent, Washington, the Chinese, and the Gulf. His thoughts are a fascinating insight into Europe's biggest battle