Eurotopics.net

Showdown in the House of Commons: the MPs will vote this evening on the Brexit agreement reached between the EU and the British government. With defeat looming, Prime Minister May has warned that if the parliament doesn't pass the deal the result will be either a stop to Brexit or a messy no-deal scenario. Commentators try to make sense of the chaos in Britain.

The plans for US troops to withdraw from Syria have led to major tensions between Washington and Ankara. US President Donald Trump threatened the Turks with "economic devastation" if they attacked the Kurdish troops in northern Syria after the US withdrawal. Commentators discuss how fragile the relations between the two Nato partners have become.

According to Turkish statistics more than 250,000 Turks left Turkey to live elsewhere in 2017 - a leap of 42 percent compared to the year before. Most of those turning their back on the country are young, well educated urbanites. While Turkish journalists discuss the motives for this exodus a French commentator draws parallels with another country.

Sweden's Left Party has assumed a key role in the struggle to form a new government: it says it will prevent the leader of the Social Democrats Stefan Löfven from becoming prime minister if his party and the Greens stick to the plans for market liberalisation set out in their agreement with the Centre Party and the Liberals. The four parties had struck the deal in order to achieve a majority without the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats. Can the strategy work?

In view of the ongoing yellow vest protests French President Macron has announced in a "Letter to the French" that he wants to engage in dialogue with the population. Thirty-five topics ranging from taxes to democracy and environmental protection to immigration are to be discussed in open forums throughout the country. What are the chances of this attempt at reconciliation succeeding?