Sum up 2019 in three words? Easy: Elections, Brexit, Trump.
Hundreds of millions of voters trekked to the polls around the EU for the European parliamentary ballot, setting the Continent’s course for the next five years. And Finns, Brits, Austrians, Spaniards, Estonians, Maltese, Slovaks, Dutch, Czechs, Lithuanians, Irish, Belgians, Greeks, Latvians, Danes, Germans, Norwegians, Portuguese, Poles, Bulgarians, Romanians and Croats — did I miss anyone?! — voted in their own elections.
Meanwhile, the Brexit dance continued, with first Theresa May, then Boris Johnson sparring with the EU and their own parliament in an attempt to finally deliver on the U.K.’s 2016 EU referendum. Spoiler alert: No one has managed to tick that off their to-do list just yet.
And as all that was happening, U.S. President Donald Trump kept things interesting, lobbing hand grenades across the Atlantic.
POLITICO revisits the events that shaped — and intrigued — the Continent through our most popular stories of the year.
20. Finland’s grand AI experiment
Teemu Roos, a computer scientist at the University of Helsinki, has spearheaded the school’s AI initiative | Janosch Delcker/POLITICO
What’s a country to do when its pride and joy — a national mobile phone champion, say — falls on hard times, and its finances face pressure from China, the United States and beyond? Finland’s answer: to repurpose its economy toward high-end applications of artificial intelligence.
19. Von der Leyen reveals picks for European Commission
Team Von der Leyen | Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
It’s no surprise that the 2019 European election was a hot topic for POLITICO readers. The first (but certainly not the last) election-related story to make our list was a rundown of incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposed new team. Of course, not all the would-be commissioners ended up making the European Parliament’s cut, but as some wise dudes once said, you don’t always get what you want — but maybe you get what you need.
18. Theresa May’s passive-aggressive parting gift for Trump
Then Prime Minister Theresa May meets U.S. President Donald Trump | David Rose/Getty Images via WPA Pool
In the dying days of her prime ministership, Theresa May welcomed Donald Trump to Downing Street on his state visit to the U.K. — and used the opportunity to present him with a gift laden with symbolism (and snark): Winston Churchill’s own draft of the Atlantic Charter of 1941, a foundational text of the United Nations. Who said the Maybot has no sense of humor?
17. The Notre Dame wildfire that can’t be put out
France mourned the damage to its famous cathedral | Eric Feferberg/AFP via Getty Images
The haunting image of Paris’ famed Notre Dame cathedral going up in flames, its narrow spire collapsing into the blazing inferno below it, shook the world. In the wake of the disaster, as France was grappling with the aftermath, we explored how conspiracy theorists were rushing in to widen the country’s cultural divides.
16. London mayor mocks Trump for dealing with hurricane ‘out on the golf course’
London mayor Sadiq Khan | Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images
There’s no love lost between Donald Trump and London Mayor Sadiq Khan. In September, after Trump pulled out of a trip to Poland to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II to concentrate on the devastating Hurricane Dorian, but was then pictured playing golf at his private club in Virginia, Khan didn’t miss an opportunity to get in a dig, telling London Playbook’s Jack Blanchard: “He’s clearly busy dealing with a hurricane out on the golf course.”
15. Pass the Duchy: Luxembourg’s grand plan to legalize cannabis
Luxembourg wants to become the first country in the EU to make cannabis completely legal | POLITICO photo-illustration/Source images by Getty Images
Luxembourg’s ambition to legalize recreational cannabis — and to convince others to do the same — caught readers’ interest this year. With the country pushing to become the first in the EU to make cannabis completely legal, we interviewed Health Minister (and deputy PM) Etienne Schneider, one of the main advocates of the move. Alas, the plan could now be in jeopardy, with Schneider announcing he would be stepping down from the government early next year.
14. Pompeo is dead to Berlin
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel | Andreas Gora – Pool /Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s 11th-hour decision to cancel a trip to Germany, jilting Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, had Germans up in arms in May — and saw POLITICO’s Matthew Karnitschnig proclaim that “Pompeo is dead to Berlin.”
13. Meet Boris Johnson’s new Cabinet
Team Johnson | Matt Dunham/Getty Images via WPA Pool
Newly crowned U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson oversaw the most brutal government reshuffle in decades when he took over the reins in the middle of a heatwave in July. We gave Johnson’s new Cabinet the pen portrait treatment.
12. The people who hold UK’s Brexit destiny in their hands
Theresa May sits in the audience during the annual Conservative Party Conference on September 30, 2018 in Birmingham | Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Before he got the chance to convince his country to get on board with his vision for Brexit Britain, Boris Johnson had to win round 160,000 grassroots Conservative Party members. We took a deep dive into the Tory psyche for a long read on the people who held the U.K.’s Brexit destiny in their hands.
11. The inconvenient truth about Ursula von der Leyen
Ursula von der Leyen | Freiderick Florin/AFP via Getty Images
The von der Leyen Commission is now in full swing, but way back in July, when she was still the German defense minister and the surprise candidate for the EU’s top job, Matthew Karnitschnig asked whether the polyglot who raised seven children and earned a medical degree on the side was too good to be true.
10. In graphics: How Europe voted
European election results | POLITICO
The European election resulted in a fragmented European Parliament, with the traditional two big groups — the center-right European People’s Party and the center-left Socialists & Democrats — losing ground while Euroskeptics made gains. We broke down the results in graphs and charts.
9. Why Europe can’t stop laughing at Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson | Stefan Rousseau/Getty Images via WPA Pool
It was the Dawn of the Age of Boris Johnson — and Europe had the giggles. In the early days of his premiership, with the triumphant December election still but a twinkle in Dominic Cummings’ eye, Johnson’s biggest challenge in dealing with the EU was to prove there was more to him than gaffes and bloopers.
8. Ivanka Trump congratulates Boris Johnson on becoming PM … of Jamaica!
First daughter Ivanka Trump | Spencer Platt/Getty Images
And speaking of gaffes … first daughter Ivanka Trump tweeted her congratulations to Johnson on “becoming the next Prime Minister of the United Kingston.” Says it all, really.
7. The Brexit deal explained
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson with then European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker | Kenzo Triboillard/AFP via Getty Images
Remember the time before Boris Johnson’s roaring election victory, back when he had to wrangle a minority government and the rabble-rousers in the Democratic Unionist Party, plus a House of Commons that had become used to throwing its weight around? This was the Brexit deal that that Johnson struck with Brussels, explained.
6. Finland’s government collapses over failed health care reform
Former Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipilä resigned a month ahead of an election | Heikki Saukkomaa/AFP via Getty Images)
Who knew POLITICO readers were so interested in the most sparsely populated country in the European Union (h/t REPOPA)? Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipilä announced his resignation over failed health care reforms in March, one month ahead of an election — paving the way for Sanna Marin to become the world’s youngest prime minister in December.
5. Austrian government collapses over Russia scandal
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz | Michael Gruber/Getty Images
A day after the release of a bombshell video showing Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of the junior party in Austria’s ruling coalition, trying to trade public contracts for party donations from a woman he believed to be the wealthy niece of a Russian oligarch, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz pulled the plug on his big experiment: attempting to tame the far right by welcoming it into government.
4. French far right beats Macron in EU election
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen | Dominique Faget/AFP via Getty Images
Emmanuel Macron may have beaten her in the French presidential election, but Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally pipped him to the post on the EU ballot.
3. EU Election: Live Blog
Europeans around the bloc cast ballots in May’s EU election | Michele Tantussi/Getty Images
As millions of people across the EU went to the polls to elect a new European Parliament, we covered the blow-by-blow via our essential live blog.
2. How the UK lost the Brexit battle
Illustration by Zach Meyer for POLITICO
Whoever said people no longer read long-form journalism clearly hadn’t counted on Brexit. In this 7,000-word opus, POLITICO dissected how the course of Brexit was set in the hours and days after the 2016 referendum. The story, which details how the EU managed to implement a better strategy than the U.K. from Day 1 after the Brexit vote, explains that London’s crucial strategic mistake was to allow itself to be pushed into triggering Article 50, which set the Brexit clock ticking all those years go.
1. June EU Summit: Live Blog
German Chancellor Angela Merkel | Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images
It was the monster three-day EU summit to discuss the bloc’s top jobs. Hearts were broken (oeps, Frans), legacies tainted (auf wiedersehen, Mutti), democracy damaged (h/t Manfred) … and the EU’s course for the next five years was set.