Eurotopics.net

The coming year will see elections in the Netherlands, France and Germany and the beginning of the Brexit negotiations. But journalists are not entirely pessimistic about Europe's prospects in 2017.

The Syrian ceasefire negotiated by Russia, Turkey and Iran is very fragile. Fighting continues in the Barada Valley region near Damascus, prompting the Syrian rebels to break off the preliminary talks being held in advance of a meeting in the Kazakh capital Astana at the end of January. Commentators wonder whether Russia will nonetheless be able to get the warring parties to sit down at the negotiating table.

Britain's permanent representative to the EU, Sir Ivan Rogers, has resigned. He wanted to cede his office to a successor before Britain triggers Article 50 at the end of March, a communique from the British embassy to the EU announced. This will weaken London's position in the Brexit negotiations, some commentators believe. Others see it as a chance.

In response to the latest terrorist attack in Istanbul, the Turkish government has once again extended the state of emergency that it imposed following the coup attempt. Turkish commentators warn society not to let terrorism deepen the rifts in Turkey.

Following the terrorist attacks in Europe Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec plans to enshrine the right to own and use weapons in the constitution. He argues that if the occasion arises armed citizens should be able to stop terrorists just as the security forces can. Czech commentators reject the proposal.

When Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU on 1 January 2007 people celebrated on the streets. In the ten years that have passed since then, however, many citizens have become disillusioned because EU membership hasn't brought the positive changes they had hoped for. Journalists in both countries nonetheless assess the move as positive overall.