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Tony Barber

European Comment Editor

Tony Barber is European Comment Editor of the Financial Times. He is a former foreign correspondent in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland, the former Soviet Union, the US and the former Yugoslavia.

In 2012 he was awarded the Medal of Gratitude by the Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk in recognition of his work in support of freedom and democracy in Poland. He wrote the introduction to Mud Sweeter Than Honey, a book on communist Albania by the author Margo Rejmer.

Email Tony Barber @TonyBarber8  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)
  • Saturday, 7 December, 2024
    Europe Express
    Romania tries to suppress a far-right surge Premium content

    Călin Georgescu appeared set to win the presidential election until the nation’s high court annulled the first-round result

    Călin Georgescu
  • Saturday, 30 November, 2024
    Europe Express
    Russia’s economy flatters to deceive Premium content

    Western commentators should take care not to be misled by statistics that the Kremlin has turned into a weapon of war

    People walk past a gift shop in Moscow selling T-shirts with the letter Z, which has become a symbol of support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
  • Saturday, 23 November, 2024
    Europe Express
    Ukraine, the Balkans and the future of EU enlargement Premium content

    Developments beyond as well as inside Europe threaten one of the bloc’s cornerstone projects

    A mural in 2016 just ahead of Donald Trump’s first presidential term, picturing US president-elect and Russian President Vladimir Putin
  • Thursday, 21 November, 2024
    FT SeriesThe best books of the year 2024
    Best books of 2024: History

    Tony Barber selects his must-read titles

    Composite of various covers of history books
  • Saturday, 9 November, 2024
    Europe Express
    The eastern inheritance of united Germany Premium content

    History, political culture and social conditions of the former communist region repay close attention

    Sahra Wagenknecht
  • Saturday, 2 November, 2024
    Europe Express
    How the US election may unsettle Europe Premium content

    Europeans mostly prefer Harris to Trump but challenges lie ahead on democracy, defence and economics

    Donald Trump met Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Florida
  • Sunday, 27 October, 2024
    Central Asia
    Central Asians edge into a brave new world on Russia’s doorstep

    The region’s five states are increasingly standing up for themselves on matters of language, history and identity

    The Registan square in Uzbekistan
  • Saturday, 26 October, 2024
    Europe Express
    Europe’s fiscal tug of war Premium content

    Pressure to display fiscal discipline is no less high than pressure to spend more on security and economic innovation

    A Swedish Air Force Gripen jetfighter
  • Saturday, 19 October, 2024
    Europe Express
    Russia’s elusive war aims Premium content

    Any end to the fighting that left Moscow in control of some Ukrainian land wouldn’t necessarily add up to a victory

    Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un attend a state reception in Pyongyang in June this year
  • Saturday, 19 October, 2024
    ReviewNon-Fiction
    How cold warriors used hard science

    Two revealing historical books show how the Soviet bloc weaponised space exploration and biochemistry during the cold war

  • Saturday, 12 October, 2024
    Europe Express
    Election showdown in Georgia Premium content

    Few expect a free and fair contest in a country whose ruling party displays pro-Russian and anti-democratic tendencies

    A woman holds Georgian and EU flags in front of riot police
  • Saturday, 12 October, 2024
    Retail sector
    Bliss was it in that dawn to be in retail

    Putting executives on the shop floor is a great idea, but in the 1970s even lowly temps like myself loved the job

    A trainee store assistant receives a practical lesson in window dressing by a senior member of staff at Peter Jones Department Store
  • Saturday, 28 September, 2024
    Europe Express
    Paying the price for European security Premium content

    Disputes persist over funding, procurement and the role of the EU in defence policy

  • Wednesday, 25 September, 2024
    FT News Briefing podcast11 min listen
    China unleashes stimulus blitz

    Central bank cuts benchmark rate and unveils support for property and stock markets

  • Monday, 23 September, 2024
    Russian politics
    Putin casts his net over Stalin’s exonerated victims

    A legal review of rehabilitations combines propaganda with an insatiable impulse to rewrite Russian history

    People carry the portraits of the late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin during a memorial ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of his death
  • Saturday, 21 September, 2024
    Europe Express
    The centre holds in Ireland Premium content

    Tensions are rising over immigration ahead of the general election

    Ireland’s Taoiseach Simon Harris, left, with Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill, centre, and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly
  • Saturday, 31 August, 2024
    Europe Express
    France and Germany: clouds darken at the dawn of a new EU era Premium content

    Political and economic ills are growing in bloc’s two main states as the next five-year leadership cycle starts in Brussels

    Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán
  • Saturday, 24 August, 2024
    Europe Express
    Austria, the far right and Russia Premium content

    Elections next month will determine whether the pro-Kremlin Freedom party will return to government

    Herbert Kickl
  • Saturday, 17 August, 2024
    Europe Express
    Sweden breaks with its liberal past on migration Premium content

    EU governments face awkward choices over asylum-seekers, labour market shortages and integration of newcomers

    Migrants are guided onto a boat on the Italian island of Lampedusa
  • Sunday, 4 August, 2024
    Media
    Resist ‘fake news’ but don’t exaggerate its power

    One hundred years on, the Zinoviev Letter illustrates how election results have deeper causes than disinformation

    Ben Hickey illustration of a snake wrapped around a pile of newspapers.
  • Saturday, 3 August, 2024
    Europe Express
    Picking the next pope Premium content

    Vatican-watchers are debating who might succeed Francis at the head of a Catholic Church rife with internal tensions

    Pope Francis attends a special audience with altar servers in Saint Peter’s square at the Vatican
  • Thursday, 1 August, 2024
    ReviewLife & Arts
    Spiritual struggle or military tourism?

    Two authoritative histories shed modern light on two centuries of medieval crusades

    An image of men on horses fighting
  • Saturday, 27 July, 2024
    Europe Express
    Shadows of history on Poland’s foreign policy Premium content

    Relations with Ukraine and Germany are burdened by the past in ways that feed into domestic political disputes

    Donald Tusk speaking at a ceremony to commemorate the Battle of Monte Cassino
  • Saturday, 20 July, 2024
    Europe Express
    The pillars of German security are shaking Premium content

    Political upheavals in France and the US are causing anxiety in Berlin

    French president Emmanuel Macron (L) and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz participate in Working Session of the NATO Summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington.
  • Thursday, 18 July, 2024
    Russian politics
    Russian censors itch to trap zombie mice

    The demand to ban a satirical novel underlines the shrinking space for free expression under Putin

    Mouse book cover
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