Matthew Tempest

Berlin

Berlin-Based Editor at EUobserver

British journalist in Berlin since 2009. Editor @euobs. Ex-political correspondent @guardian 2001-2007, also previously @AFP + @dpa. Not here much. RT = +/- RT

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Articles

Led By Donkeys - How four blokes with a ladder took on Brexit

2 weeks ago | euobserver.com | Matthew Tempest

They say that ‘strongmen’ leaders can stand anything — apart from being laughed at. And they say that the best way to win an argument is to quote your opponents' own words back at them. Well, Will Rose, James Sadri, Oliver Knowles and Ben Stewart — better known as the (initially) anonymous Brexit ad-busting British guerilla outfit “Led By Donkeys” — certainly proved those two suppositions correct.
80 percent said no - so let’s stop pretending the AfD speaks for ‘The People’

Feb 24, 2025 | euobserver.com | Matthew Tempest

There are two key takeaways from Sunday’s (23 February) election in Germany: they are the numbers 83.5 and 80. The former is the voter turnout — 83.5 percent — the highest since 1987. In other words, the highest in the history of a united Germany.
World leaders swift to congratulate victorious Trump

Nov 5, 2024 | euobserver.com | Matthew Tempest

World leaders were swift to congratulate Donald Trump on his convincing win in the US presidential election on Wedneday (6 November) morning — even before the full and official results were announced. With a returning Trump looking set to win both the popular national vote, as well as the US electoral college, from Europe, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was one of the first off the mark.
Tusk now needs to win over Poland's conservative core

Apr 17, 2024 | euobserver.com | Hugo Blewett-Mundy |Matthew Tempest

Poland is on the verge of democratic renewal in a historic turning point for the Central European nation since its restoration of independence in 1989. Last October, millions of voters queued for hours outside polling stations across the country to end the creeping authoritarianism that defined almost a decade of rule under Law and Justice (PiS). <...
How Hungary's teachers are taking on Viktor Orban

Apr 16, 2024 | euobserver.com | Tibor Dessewffy |Matthew Tempest

How can you fight for what you believe in when doing so risks your livelihood and personal safety? This is a question that some Hungarians must now grapple with against a backdrop of democratic decline under Viktor Orban and his ruling Fidesz Party. For Hungary's teachers, who have been protesting on the streets for the past eight years, this question is particularly acute. Since 2010, they have witnessed far-reaching nationalistic changes to the country's education system, including a ...
The colonial biometric legacy at heart of new EU asylum system

Apr 8, 2024 | euobserver.com | Laurence Meyer |Chloe Berthélémy |Matthew Tempest

On Wednesday (10 April), the EU is set to vote on a new set of asylum and migration reforms. Among the many controversial changes proposed in the new migration pact, one went almost unnoticed — a seemingly innocent reform of the EU's asylum database, EURODAC. Although framed as purely technical adjustments, the reality is far more malicious. The changes to EURODAC will massively exacerbate violence against people on the move. Reform of this 20 year-old database will make it the t...
Seven ways Gaza conflict gets misreported in Europe

Jan 18, 2024 | euobserver.com | Arthur Neslen |Matthew Tempest

Arthur Neslen is the author of two critically-acclaimed books about Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian identities: Occupied Minds - A Journey Through The Israeli Psyche and In Your Eyes A Sandstorm - Ways of Being Palestinian. From 2004 to 2009 he was based in Ramallah and Tel Aviv, where he wrote about the Israel-Palestine conflict for the websites of Al Jazeera, the Guardian, the Economist, Haaretz and Jane's Information Group.
[Editorial] EUobserver's Top 10 stories of 2023

Dec 21, 2023 | euobserver.com | Matthew Tempest

Instead, selected by our team of seven reporters and editors, these are the 10 tales we thought best showed the breadth, depth, and originality of EUobserver over 2023, and it's quest for original, investigative, off-diary stories about Brussels, the member states, policy-making, social affairs, foreign affairs, migration and the environment — to name just four of our specialised areas of reporting.
Russia, the West, and the geopolitical 'touch-move rule'

Dec 4, 2023 | euobserver.com | Anton Shekhovtsov |Matthew Tempest

In chess, if you touch a piece with the intent to move it, you are obliged to move that piece if legally possible. It is called a "touch-move rule". After touching the piece, you cannot change your mind — for example, while holding the piece above a square — even if you understand that it was a mistake to touch it in the first place: you must move the piece.
The truth about The Other Ukraine political party

Nov 7, 2023 | euobserver.com | Anton Shekhovtsov |Matthew Tempest

Back in February 2022, when Moscow launched its full-blown invasion of Ukraine, it hardly expected to become engaged in a prolonged war. The invasion was meant to be exactly what it was officially called: a "special military operation", a blitzkrieg aiming to quickly destroy the leadership of Ukraine, break the will of the Ukrainian army to resist, and install a pro-Russian occupation regime. According to the Ukrainian ...