


The EU should be the world’s heat-pump pioneer
But the union is falling behind in its efforts
Fearing for her reappointment, Ursula von der Leyen, boss of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, soft-pedalled over unpopular green policies in the run-up to the European Parliament elections on June 9th. Mrs von der Leyen had proclaimed in 2019 that the EU Green Deal, the union’s strategy to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, was the EU’s “man-on-the-moon moment”.
But in February she blocked a draft law to slash the use of pesticides in farming, and loosened some of the environmental strings tied to the subsidies of the EU’s common agricultural policy. Still more striking was her decision to delay publication of a heat-pump action plan that had been scheduled for early in the year to an unspecified time after the elections.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The EU’s role as heat-pump pioneer”

Europe faces a new age of shrunken French influence
Sharing power will weaken the federalist president’s sway in Brussels

Turkish tourists can now easily visit nearby Greek islands
A cheering sign of reduced tension in the eastern Mediterranean

Le Pen’s hard right looks set to dominate the French parliament
Even without a majority

Europe faces a new age of shrunken French influence
Sharing power will weaken the federalist president’s sway in Brussels

Turkish tourists can now easily visit nearby Greek islands
A cheering sign of reduced tension in the eastern Mediterranean

Le Pen’s hard right looks set to dominate the French parliament
Even without a majority
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Children and wives have been apart from their fathers and husbands for more than two years
A crushing blow for Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance
A big turnout for Le Pen’s hard right makes clear the president’s gamble backfired spectacularly
France heads to the polls in a critical parliamentary vote
Marine Le Pen’s hard-right party is expecting a massive surge