With Chancellor Angela Merkel stepping down after sixteen years in office, the leadership of Germany, and the EU, is wide open. What is Merkel’s legacy, and what comes next?

The European Union and the United Kingdom came to a last-minute trade deal on Christmas Eve, narrowly averting the hardest of all potential Brexits. But major uncertainty remains.

Even if French President Emmanuel Macron is able to fend off the challenge from his far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen, he could struggle to form an effective government.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban won a fourth term in elections where he enjoyed unfair advantages, presenting a thorny challenge for European unity on Russia and the rule of law.

Ukraine’s first steps toward eventual EU membership are the start of a long process that has raised the stakes in the country’s war with Russia.