Eurotopics.net

The EU Commission has responded with criticism to Rome's draft budget and said it expects an explanation for the high level of new debt envisaged by Monday afternoon. If the Commission is not satisfied with the answer it will probably ask Rome to come up with a new version within three weeks. Europe's commentators make varying recommendations as to how Brussels should deal with the situation.

Eleven European countries have been deprived of taxes to the tune of 55.2 billion euros due to dividend-stripping schemes. The scale of this kind of deal in which packages of shares are unlawfully shoved back and forth in order to gain dividends is far greater than previously known. For commentators it's clear who will pay the price.

Canada has become the first industrialised country in the world to completely legalise cannabis. The new law means that marijuana and hashish can be consumed for recreational as well as medicinal purposes. Some see the step as an important experiment, others see it as an admission that policies aimed at controlling drug consumption have failed.

In Hungary a law came into force this week that bans homeless people from living on the street. The ban will affect around 30,000 people who don't have their own home and who now face prison sentences if they are caught living on the streets after several warnings by the police. Some commentators see the law as inhumane; others defend it.