European Union

For the last decade there has been a lot of focus in the EU on additional reporting and anti-abuse measures, which ultimately had lead to a high cost of tax compliance.

France is facing a government crisis: after Prime Minister Michel Barnier bypassed parliament to push through part of the state budget, the left-wing opposition parties and the right-wing populist Rassemblement National (RN) have tabled no-confidence motions. The vote is scheduled for Wednesday. Commentators point the finger in several directions.

A few weeks before the end of his term in office, US President Joe Biden has gone back on his word and pardoned his son Hunter Biden. In a statement on Sunday, the president wrote that his son had been treated unfairly and that the charges against him were politically motivated. Hunter Biden had violated gun control laws and pleaded guilty to tax offences. Europe's press takes a critical view of Biden's decision.

The social democratic PSD has emerged from Romania's parliamentary elections as the strongest party with 22 percent of the vote and could now form a four-way coalition with three other traditional parties. However, three right-wing populist parties together received around 32 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court has approved the result of the first round of the presidential election, meaning that the far-right populist Călin Georgescu can compete in Sunday's runoff vote.

The next step for the EU will be changing the Habitats Directive, a move that NGOs fear can have further implications.