European Union

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.

Turkey's president Erdogan said more violence in the north-western Syrian province of Idlib would trigger a new migration crisis "felt by all European countries."

Immigration (34%), climate change (24%), and the economy (18%) were EU citizens' top concerns in a year-end survey published by the European Commission. More than two thirds wanted the EU to press ahead with a common asylum system, gender equality rules, and monetary union. The EU's overall approval rating was 42 percent, a slight dip, with Ireland the most EU-friendly country, but with approval falling in the Netherlands and Austria.

German MPs have complained that the defence ministry wiped data from the phone of Ursula von der Leyen, the former German defence minister and now European Commission president, to hamper an investigation into the award of lucrative consultancy contracts in her time in Berlin. "We have to assume that people in office destroyed evidence," the Green party's Tobias Lindner told media. "Such actions can have have criminal relevance," he added.

Russia's Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz have agreed a last-minute deal on EU gas transit up till 2024, allying fears of a winter supply crunch in Europe. Saturday's deal after Gazprom agreed to pay $2.9bn (€2.6bn) in an arbitration dispute on old contracts. "Everyone is a winner," the European Commission said. But the breakthrough came the same day US sanctions halted construction of a Russia-Germany pipeline in a fresh dispute.

Croatia's conservative president narrowly made it to a run-off election against a centre-left former premier on Sunday (22 December), after a nationalist folk singer won over a large chunk of her camp's far-right wing.

2020 can be the year Europe opens a new chapter of its digital policy play book.

The Greek government said Sunday (22 December) it will sign an agreement for a huge pipeline project with Cyprus and Israel next month that is designed to ship gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe.

The EU issued a declaration on the latest developments in Venezuela.

US sanctions have halted construction of Russia's divisive gas pipeline to Germany, Nord Stream 2.

Russian energy giant Gazprom has agreed to pay $2.9 billion to its Ukrainian counterpart Naftogaz to settle a long-running dispute over transit fees for gas transported to Europe, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday (21 December).

An agreement was reached Friday (20 December) on transit rules for Russian gas going through Ukraine. Maroš Šefčovič explains why this is good news for Europe and all parties concerned.