Eurotopics.net

Pointing out that fewer and fewer people read newspapers, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen informed the country of the planned measures to combat the Covid pandemic via Facebook. The Danish press sees this as an attempt to avoid uncomfortable questions.

The final hurdles to the implementation of the EU's 1.8 trillion euro budget for the next seven years and the disbursement of the coronavirus recovery fund have been cleared. There was a fierce struggle over the recovery fund in the summer and then the budget was blocked by a weeks-long dispute with Hungary and Poland over the new rule of law mechanism. Now a compromise has been reached at this week's EU summit. Commentators breathe a sigh of relief.

The US consumer protection agency FTC and 46 US state prosecutors are taking legal action to break up Facebook on the grounds that the social network's market position is too dominant and stifles competition. They say the company should sell Instagram and Whatsapp and facilitate access to its programming interfaces and data, and that future acquisitions must subject to advance scrutiny by competition authorities. Not all observers feel the action is justified.

At its summit on Thursday the EU decided to impose new sanctions against Turkey in reaction to Turkey's unauthorised gas explorations off the coast of Cyprus. Individuals and companies involved in the explorations now face entry bans and risk having their assets frozen. However, the EU stopped short of imposing sanctions on entire economic sectors. Commentators say Turkey has got off lightly.