Eurotopics.net

France's President Emmanuel Macron has promised that artworks taken from former French colonies in Africa will be returned. Roughly 90,000 objects currently held by French museums could be affected. Britain, Germany and Belgium are also debating whether works stolen during the colonial era should be returned. Commentators are sceptical.

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.