European Union

EURACTIV's Digital Editor, Samuel Stolton, sat down with Vice-President of the European Commission, Andrus Ansip, to speak about his recent decision to stand as an MEP, disinformation, 'those' Huawei comments and the difficulties with the copyright directive.

Public spending on social areas such as pensions, healthcare and unemployment benefits was highest in France (31.2 percent of GDP) and Belgium (28.9 percent) in 2018, figures from the OECD reveal. Italy was fifth, after Denmark and Finland, while Ireland spent the least (14.4 percent) among EU countries. France is the only country among the top 10 listed that reduced social spending in 2018, compared to 2017.

Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have signed the new German-French friendship treaty. According to the agreement Berlin and Paris want to enhance their cooperation on Europe policy and campaign for a common foreign and security policy. While some commentators fear that the Franco-German pact excludes other states, for others the agreement points the way forward.

Police in Northern Ireland say that the car bomb attack in the city of Londonderry on Saturday could have been the work of the militant underground organisation the New IRA. Commentators discuss what impact the Brexit negotiations could have on peace in Ireland.

The global economic elite is currently in Davos for its annual meeting. But key figures like Trump, May and Macron are not among the roughly 3,000 persons attending this year. For commentators this is just one of several reasons why they see the World Economic Forum falling short of expectations.

The "10YearChallenge" action on social media has taken a unique turn in Turkey: hundreds of women have posted photos with the hashtag Özgürleştik ("We have become emancipated") showing how they have stopped wearing a headscarf in the last decade. The new challenge has rekindled an old debate.

Greece is still on tenterhooks over the agreed solution to its name dispute with Macedonia. After Prime Minister Tsipras won a confidence vote last week, tens of thousands took to the street on Sunday to demonstrate against the agreement between Athens and its neighbour to the north. The deal is to be put to vote in parliament on Thursday. The Greek press blames various camps for the polarisation.