European Union

With less than two days to go before the meeting of EU leaders there is no sign of an agreement being reached between Madrid and London in the dispute over Gibraltar. Spain is demanding a right of veto on all future agreements regarding British territory and threatening to block the Brexit deal on Sunday. Several British media are incensed by this stance, but what is behind it?

The Ukrainian government stopped the signing of the association agreement with the EU on November 21, 2013. Spontaneous protests against this move led to the fall of president Yanukovych in February 2014 and Russia's annexation of Crimea, and continue to strain relations between Russia and the West today. A retrospective by Ukrainian and Russian media.

The European Commission has also rejected a slightly modified draft of Italy's 2019 budget on the grounds that it violates EU rules, and is initiating an Excessive Deficit Procedure against the country. For Rome this could mean fines of up to 3.4 billion euros. Some commentators praise Brussels for its firm stance. Others say both sides will end up losing.

Stores in the US traditionally offer goods at heavily reduced prices on the Friday after Thanksgiving, ushering in the Christmas shopping season. Black Friday has also been exported to Europe and taken up by e-commerce. Commentators discuss the commercial and spiritual repercussions of the mega sale.

The opposition in the Czech parliament wants to try to topple Prime Minister Andrej Babiš with a vote of no confidence in the wake of a subsidies scandal. The police are investigating Babiš on charges of misusing EU subsidies for a health resort, and his own son has accused him of having had him abducted to prevent him from giving testimony. Commentators believe the no-confidence vote won't succeed and explain why.

Instead of ideologically defending the EU market model against the US model, the EU would be much better off focusing its talent and brainpower on implementing this 21st century electricity market, argues Konrad Purchała.

Plenary and committee meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

The European Parliament has been working hard on the EU’s social policy, voting in favour of establishing a “European social watchdog” and coordinating social security systems on 20 November. EURACTIV France reports.