Eurotopics.net

The EU foreign ministers have agreed on new sanctions against Belarus. Airlines and travel agencies will face penalties if they transport migrants who are instrumentalised for political purposes. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also had a phone conversation with Belarus's unrecognised leader Alexander Lukashenka. Can this defuse the dramatic situation at the border?

The anti-graft party We Continue the Change, which was only founded in September, has won Bulgaria's third parliamentary election in 2021 with around 25 percent of the vote. Its leading candidate Kiril Petkov made a name for himself as economy minister in the caretaker government with his crackdown on corruption. Commentators see clear signs of change.

President Milos Zeman's belated blessing for the coalition of election winners led by Petr Fiala could have been the starting signal for a new era in the Czech Republic now that ex-Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who is suspected of corruption, is gone. But the spirit of optimism seems to have evaporated, and fundamental problems remain in the turmoil of the transition. Commentators call on the new players for more action.

France's parliament plans to pass a law on November 17 aimed at giving better protection to whistleblowers. The EU parliament hearing of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen on November 10 and charges by a former nuclear power plant employee accusing energy giant EDF of covering up safety-related incidents have put the issue in the spotlight.

The Dutch-British oil company Royal Dutch Shell plans to move its headquarters from The Hague to London and to change its name to just Shell. One reason is that the Netherlands is unwilling to abolish taxes on dividends. The Dutch government has said it was "unpleasantly surprised" by the move. The nation's papers take very different views on the subject.