European Union

Russia and Ukraine have agreed on a new five-year contract for gas transit to Western Europe. Under the deal Russia accepts a contractual penalty of three billion dollars and Ukraine will waive any further demands. The agreement prevents a new "gas war" of the kind that flared up eleven years ago. Commentators see this for the most part as good news.

There are growing signs that a coalition between the Socialists and the left-wing party Podemos will be able to form a government majority with the backing of the Catalan separatist party ERC. However, in exchange for its support ERC is demanding a signal that the government will obey the ruling from Luxembourg. Some commentators are relieved while others see this as betrayal.

A former CEO and two other ex-top managers at France Télécom have been sentenced to prison terms for bullying practices in their company. A criminal court in Paris ruled that they were partly responsible for the suicide of 35 employees between 2007 and 2010 for introducing a system that put the employees under excessive pressure. The media see the verdict as a milestone.

Interest rates in the eurozone could remain historically low for years, but the European Central Bank's (ECB) ultra-loose monetary policy risks becoming counterproductive, ECB governing council member Klaas Knot said in an interview published on Monday (23 December).

Turkey cannot handle a fresh wave of migrants from Syria, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday (22 December), warning that European countries will feel the impact of such an influx if violence in Syria's northwest is not stopped.

Socialist candidate and former Croatian prime minister Zoran Milanovic won the first round of presidential elections on Sunday. Milanovic got 29.5 percent of the votes, while centre-right incumbent president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, the candidate of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), only managed 26.7 percent. Miroslav Skoro, a popular conservative singer, came in third place with 24.4 percent. A run-off will take place on 5 January.

The German federal criminal police office said on Sunday that the country has prevented nine potential terrorist attacks since the Berlin Christmas market atrocity in 2016, in which a truck driver killed 12 people and left 56 others injured. "After the death of the IS [Islamic State] leader, there was an increasing call for terror in the West in radical Islamist circles," authorities told German daily Welt am Sonntag.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan questioned on Sunday the sovereignty of certain Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, restating a 1990s theory of so-called "grey zones" in the region, Ekathimerini reports. "Those who make plans on disputed sovereignty of islands in the Aegean should know that the coast is not clear," Erdogan said, adding that he would protect Turkey's economic rights. "We do not intend to start conflicts," he added.

French president Emmanuel Macron called on Saturday for a truce in the transport strikes over the holidays, three days after negotiations between the government and unions failed to ease tensions over pension reforms, France24 reported. "I believe there are moments in the life of a nation when it is also good to call a truce to respect families," he said. However, unions are calling for further mobilisation.