Europe at a glance

Munich, Germany

Cracks showing: The fracturing alliance between the US and Europe – and in particular between the US and Germany – was laid bare at last weekend’s Munich security conference. Held annually since 1963, the gathering of world leaders and security officials has traditionally worked to strengthen the alliance. However, Chancellor Angela Merkel won an ovation for a speech in which she decried US unilateralism, attacked its policies on Iran, Syria and Afghanistan, and mocked its trade protectionism. The same audience then listened in silence to US vice-president Mike Pence as he lauded President Trump and implied that if Europeans do not follow the US in withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, they are de facto anti-semites who may be complicit in “another Holocaust”. Analysts say the event marked a significant moment, with cracks now deepening in the transatlantic relationship.

Quatzenheim, France

Marches against anti-semitism: Almost 100 graves in a Jewish cemetery in Alsace were desecrated with swastikas, in an attack that was discovered hours before cities and towns across France were due to hold rallies against an upsurge of anti-semitism in France. On Tuesday, President Macron visited the cemetery in the village of Quatzenheim, where the graves were vandalised overnight, as an act of solidarity before heading to the Holocaust memorial in Paris to pay his respects. Former presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy joined thousands of protesters – including politicians from across the political spectrum – on the Paris march. The rallies were organised after a shocking incident last weekend in which Alain Finkielkraut, a well-known philosopher and the son of a survivor of Auschwitz, suffered a torrent of anti-semitic abuse on the fringes of a gilets jaunes protest in Paris.

Madrid

Snap election: Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s Socialist PM, has called a snap election for 28 April – the country’s third general election since 2015. The move came after Catalan separatists in the Madrid parliament withdrew support for the fragile coalition led by Sánchez, who came to power last June when his predecessor, Mariano Rajoy of the centre-right People’s Party (PP), lost a vote of censure over a string of corruption claims. With only 24% of MPS, it was always unlikely that Sánchez would be able to govern for long. However, his position has been made more unstable by the Catalan issue ( see page 18): his efforts to build bridges with secessionists did not go far enough to keep their support, yet they also allowed Pablo Casado, the PP’S hard-line pro-unity leader, to paint Sánchez as a “traitor”. Polls suggest a close-run contest – with another weak government the likely result.

Berlin

Not crying wolf: Laws to protect wolves in Germany have been so successful that the animal’s dramatic recovery poses a growing threat to livestock in the east of the country. New statistics show that wolves – which were extinct in Germany for the bulk of the 20th century – carried out 472 attacks in 2017, a 66% leap on the previous year. The number of livestock killed or maimed (mostly sheep or goats) surged 55%, to 1,667. Under current rules, a wolf can only be killed in exceptional circumstances or if human life is in danger. But agriculture minister Julia Klöckner says the balance now needs to be tipped in favour of farmers.

Vatican City

Cardinal expelled: Pope Francis has expelled a former archbishop of Washington DC from the priesthood. The action – which came after Theodore Mccarrick (left), 88, was found guilty by the Church of sexually abusing children and harassing adult seminarians over several decades – makes him the highest-ranking cardinal to be defrocked for sexual abuse. Seen as a major landmark in the Vatican’s handling of the ongoing scandal of abuse in the Catholic Church, the expulsion came days before a global summit of bishops was due to begin discussing the issue in Rome.

Kvalsund, Norway

Copper mining gets go ahead: Norway’s government has approved the building of a vast copper mine in the Arctic. The announcement came despite years of campaigning by indigenous Sámi herders, fishermen and environmentalists – who claim the mine will destroy reindeer pastures and pollute nearby fjords. Geological surveys carried out by mining firms suggest that Kvalsund, a region of Finnmark (in northeastern Norway) close to Europe’s northernmost point, holds some 72 million tonnes of copper. The government’s long-awaited decision on whether to give the go-ahead had been seen as a litmus test for the Arctic, where climate change has made the commercial exploitation of resources more viable.

Warsaw

Bitter row with Israel: The relationship between Poland and Israel has taken a dramatic turn for the worse, after Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted by Israeli media as saying “the Poles” cooperated with the Nazis during the Holocaust. The remarks were made while the Israeli PM was in Warsaw for a conference on the Middle East – and though his office later clarified that he had spoken of individual “Poles” rather than the Polish nation, the damage was done. In an escalating war of words, Yisrael Katz, Israel’s new foreign minister, added fuel to the fire by accusing Poles of “suckling anti-semitism with their mother’s milk” (quoting the ex-israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir) and being “innately” anti-semitic. In response, Poland’s PM, Mateusz Morawiecki, called Katz’s remarks racist, and Poland pulled out of a summit of four central European nations taking place in Jerusalem this week.