Eurotopics.net

Latvia will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of its independence on November 18, the last of the three Baltic states to do so after Estonia and Lithuania celebrated theirs. But the country is divided over how to balance revelry and remembrance.

The Italian government has presented its draft budget to the European Commission without modifications. The latter had rejected it three weeks ago and for the first time ever demanded that a member state submit a revised version. In particular the planned increase in public debt to 2.4 percent of the GDP means that the country now faces an excessive deficit procedure. Will the row between Rome and Brussels escalate?

The British cabinet has approved the draft for a Brexit agreement that foresees a two-year transition period during which Britain would remain in the single market and customs union - a solution that has come under heavy fire on the domestic front. While some commentators disagree over whether the deal is good or bad others congratulate the UK on putting on a great show.

Within the space of a few days both Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel have spoken out in favour of a European army. Macron wants independence from the US. Merkel talked of sending a signal that there will never be another war between European countries. A look at the press shows what kind of response the initiative is eliciting in other countries.

Macedonia's former prime minister Nikola Gruevski has fled to Hungary and has applied for asylum there, as he announced on his Facebook page. In his home country he had been found guilty of corruption and sentenced to two years in prison. Hungarian media explain why Gruevski has sought refuge in not exactly refugee-friendly Hungary.

The formation of a new government in Sweden has failed. The leader of the conservative Moderate party, Ulf Kristersson, was set to become prime minister, but because his government would have had to rely on votes of the Sweden Democrats, the Liberals and the Centre Party decided to leave the alliance. How should Sweden's political leaders handle the right-wing populists?