The cavillers aren’t just British
IT WAS quite a change. On May 4th Douglas Henderson, an obscure British Labour politician with an interest in home affairs, was jogging in Newcastle. Next day, having unexpectedly been made minister for Europe in Tony Blair's government, he was in Brussels, grappling with questions on majority voting, the third pillar, co-decision and all the other jargon that makes outsiders switch off when the inter-governmental conference (IGC) to revise the EU's Maastricht treaty is mentioned.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The cavillers aren’t just British”
From the May 10th 1997 edition
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Emmanuel Macron shows off the gloriously restored Notre Dame
Five years after it was gutted by fire, the cathedral is more beautiful than ever
Ursula von der Leyen has a new doctrine for handling the hard right
The boss of the European Commission embarks on a second term
Marine Le Pen spooks the bond markets
She threatens to bring down the French government, but also faces a possible ban from politics
The maths of Europe’s military black hole
It needs to spend to defend, but voters may balk
Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south
Vladimir Putin’s war machine is pushing harder and crushing Ukrainian morale
Vladimir Putin fires a new missile to amplify his nuclear threats
The attack on Ukraine is part of a new era of missile warfare