James Mates

Europe Editor at ITV News

Europe Editor, ITV News

Featured in: Favicon

itv.com

standard.co.uk

Articles

‘No order in the disorder’: Is Europe gearing up to respond to Trump’s tariffs? | ITV News

3 weeks ago | itv.com | James Mates

The EU's aim will be to stand up to US President Donald Trump without provoking further retaliation against specific European industries. | ITV National News
Path to coalition unclear as Germany takes decisive shift to the right | ITV News

1 month ago | itv.com | James Mates

Germany took a decisive shift to the right on Sunday, with the centre-right CDU clear winners and the far-right AfD doubling its share of the vote. But despite the fears that no coalition may be possible, this morning it does look as if there will be a stable and coherent government in Berlin for the next few years. Friedrich Merz will be the new chancellor, almost certainly leading what the Germans call a ‘Grand Coalition’ of the two big parties of the centre.
'Not long ago, not far away': Holocaust survivors tell their stories 80 years on

2 months ago | itv.com | James Mates

There is something very special about this 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz: almost certainly this will be the last time that the assembled leaders, and the cameras of the world, will hear the living testimonies of those who survived the darkest moment in human history. Auschwitz, and the Holocaust of which it has become the symbol, will soon move from memory into history.
Could a Macron resignation be on the cards?

Dec 5, 2024 | itv.com | James Mates

The morning after the historic ousting of Michel Barnier, the smoke has cleared - but visibility has barely improved. In normal times, if a prime minister cannot command a majority, you find one who can. And if you still can’t find one, you call an election. Neither of those things appear to be possible. Barnier will, it seems, stay on as caretaker (a country must have a government after all) until President Emmanuel Macron can find someone else.
Belgium's 'slippery slope' for assisted dying laws could provide example for UK

Nov 27, 2024 | itv.com | James Mates

The debate on assisted dying in Belgium is more than 20 years ahead of the UK, so much so that even doctor-assisted suicide is far from unknown. Since euthanasia, as they refer to it, was introduced in 2002, it has also been extended to cover under-18s in exceptional circumstances, with terminal illness and their parents’ consent. The Belgian example looks like a classic ‘slippery slope’ a well-intentioned law being stretched and expanded way beyond the intentions of the original framers.
The Russian deserters trying to flee the war

Nov 22, 2024 | itv.com | James Mates

ITV News' Europe Editor James Mates met two Russian deserters in France, so far the only European country prepared to offer asylum to fleeing RussiansThe losses incurred by the Russian military since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine just over 1,000 days ago are unimaginable - the worst by any industrialised nation in a conflict since World War II.
France: A far right general election win threatens to leave political vacuum in Europe

Jun 28, 2024 | itv.com | James Mates

In France, too, there was a big political debate on Thursday night, less talked about than the one in Atlanta, but just as fractious and almost as important. The big difference was the age profile.
Everyone expected Macron to lose, no one expected a snap election

Jun 10, 2024 | itv.com | James Mates

The result was expected - President Macron’s response to it most definitely was not. The far-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen, led in this election by her 28-year-old protégé Jordan Bardella, had just won a third of the vote, pushing Macron’s party into a humiliating second place with just 15%. In his victory speech Bardella made a routine demand for Macron to call snap parliamentary elections. To the surprise of everybody, that is exactly what the President did.
Putin has his opponents where he wants them, but is his plan working?

Apr 30, 2024 | itv.com | James Mates

There’s not much doubt about Vladimir Putin’s strategy: to cut the head off Russia’s opposition either through death or imprisonment, drive the rest into exile, and render all competing voices impotent and irrelevant. After several years of ever more brutal authoritarianism, he has his opponents where he wants them, but is his plan working?
Italian farmers 'invade Rome' in the latest of EU-wide protests

Feb 15, 2024 | itv.com | James Mates

Italian farmers are the latest group to cause chaos in a Europe-wide protest over EU regulations, as James Mates reportsThe march of the tractors is becoming a genuine pan-European movement. It started in France, but the idea and the tactics have taken hold, and there is now barely a major country in the EU that has remained untouched. Today was billed as the big day in Italy.