Eurotopics.net

Romania's new government on Wednesday presented a draft bill for a series of emergency decrees that would restrict criminal investigations against corrupt politicians and see thousands of prisoners released. President Iohannis, however, intervened and the legislation was not passed. The public learned of the proposals and thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate against the plan.

Theresa May has said that Britain will not remain in the single market after the Brexit. The prime minister also promised in her speech that her country would limit immigration from the EU and would no longer be subject to the ECJ's jurisdiction. Some commentators praise May's plans for a hard Brexit. Others see them as naive and unrealistic.

In a ruling handed down on Tuesday, the German Constitutional Court rejected the call by the country's 16 states to have the far-right NPD party banned. The party is too weak to represent a threat to Germany's democratic order, the court found. Some journalists agree with the decision while others remain unconvinced.

The Italian conservative Antonio Tajani has become the new president of the European Parliament. Tajani, a former spokesman for Silvio Berlusconi and ex-EU commissioner, won the runoff against the Socialist Gianni Pittella after Guy Verhofstadt withdrew his candidacy and his group backed the conservatives. Commentators are dismayed by the result of the election.

A good two weeks after the attack on Istanbul's Reina nightclub the Turkish police have arrested the presumed killer. The man, believed to be an IS fighter from Uzbekistan, was arrested in the flat of a friend in Istanbul. The Turkish press is both relieved and concerned.

Europe has been left bewildered and unsettled by Donald Trump's interview with Bild and The Times. Nato is obsolete, Brexit is a good idea and Merkel's refugee policy is a catastrophic mistake, according to the US president-elect. Commentators hope that Europe won't be misled by his remarks and that it will develop a strategy of unity with fresh resolve.