European Union

In the face of a government crisis and the opposition's announced intention of holding a vote of no confidence, Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel has announced that he plans to offer his resignation to the king. The country is slipping back into the times when its parties blocked each other, some Belgian media fear. Others, however, see a positive side to Michel's move.

For around a week now thousands of people have gathered on Hungary's streets to protest a new labour law and the policies of the national-conservative government. The rallies are also supported by a broad alliance of opposition parties and unions. Some commentators doubt they will lead to significant changes. Others warn that the situation could become extremely dangerous.

Turkish President Erdoğan has announced a new offensive against the Kurdish YPG militia in northern Syria. Ankara combats the presence of the YPG on the Turkish border because the militia is closely allied with the PKK. The Kurds in Syria receive military support and weapons from the US because they are fighting the IS militia, however. For that reason Washington's reaction will be decisive, Turkish media believe.

Bribes to the tune of around 800,000 euros were allegedly paid in connection with the delivery of 175 diesel and trolley buses made by Polish company Solaris to Riga's transport company Satiksme. In the course of investigations by both the Latvian and Polish anti-corruption authorities several persons have been arrested. Are the authorities finally getting serious about tackling corruption?

A report published by the US Senate confirms the findings of the US intelligence agencies that Russian agents used social media to sway the US presidential election campaign in Donald Trump's favour. Facebook and co. also played a key role in mobilising the yellow vest protests in France.

Fashion ID
PDON
Advocate General Bobek: the operator of a website embedding a third party plugin such as the Facebook Like button, which causes the collection and transmission of the users’ personal data, is jointly responsible for that stage of the data processing

Rimšēvičs v Latvia
Law governing the institutions
Advocate General Kokott proposes that the Court should rule that, by suspending the Governor of the Bank of Latvia from office, the Republic of Latvia has failed to fulfil its obligations