Euobserver.com

Germany's opposition conservatives announced on Tuesday their plans to file a complaint with the country's Constitutional Court to review the supplementary budget for climate expenditure announced by the new government, Reuters reported. This week, the cabinet of chancellor Olaf Scholz passed a complementary fund to boost climate spending with a debt-financed injection of €60bn. "This is highly questionable. We will have it constitutionally reviewed," CDU leader Ralph Brinkhaus said.

The dangers of Europe's people-smuggling underworld came to light in Hungary on Tuesday when a car, smuggling 10 migrants near the Hungarian-Serbian border, crashed, killing seven of those inside and injuring others. The accident happened after the driver sped away to avoid a police roadblock, overturned, and hit a house, Hungarian news agency MTI reported. Hungary stopped 2,419 people trying to cross its borders last week, police data said.

Russia's prosecutor general's office has requested the shutdown of the renowned international human rights organisation, Memorial, which seeks to secure the rights of political prisoners and publicises historic repression in Russia, Deutsche Welle reports. The group was founded in 1989 by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, and won the European Parliament Sakharov Prize in 2009. Russian president Vladimir Putin said the group provided support to terrorists and extremists.

A Belarus court on Tuesday jailed government critic Siarhei Tsikhanouski for 18 years, state news agency Belta reported. Tsikhanouski's wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a political novice at the time of his arrest, replaced him as presidential election candidate and claims to be the rightful winner of the August 2020 vote. Protests to support her claim went on for months. She tweeted: "The dictator publicly takes revenge on his strongest opponents."

The court said it does not mean that all EU countries must recognise same-sex couples in national law, but that the children's right to free movement should not be hindered.

Current low gas-storage levels and lack of guarantees for further supply, means the new Dutch government cannot guarantee gas for businesses over the winter, experts warn.

Bosnia should be free of international supervision, Russia says, despite concern about Bosnian Serb plans to break up the country.

MEPs in the internal market committee reached a common position over the landmark Digital Service Act – new rules requiring companies like Google and Facebook to remove illegal content quicker and be more transparent about their controversial recommendation algorithms.

Clubs, associations and social networks help to give meaning not just to life, but to the entire democratic system. Be they dinner groups, voluntary fire brigades, citizens' councils, environmental NGOs, neighbourhood committees coaching refugees, and yes, why not, breastfeeding-support groups.

Let there be no doubt: a possible secession of Republika Srpska is the deathblow to the Dayton accords and to peace and stability in the region. The spill-over of such a disaster scenario for the EU is hard to foresee.

European gas prices soared 10 percent Monday, nearly reaching an all-time high, after the German government indicated Sunday it would halt Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project if it invaded Ukraine. Russian firm Gazprom posted €6.8bn profits in the July-September period, compared to a loss last year, and it expected "even more impressive results in the fourth quarter", it recently said.

Tunisian president Kais Saied said Tunisia would hold a constitutional referendum next July, exactly a year after he seized powers in what was widely described as a coup, and that parliamentary elections would follow at the end of 2022, France24 reports. Saied's July power grab initially won support from many Tunisians tired of political parties, but he has since faced mass demonstrations and growing accusations of becoming a new autocrat.

French president Emmanuel Macron said Hungary does not intend to settle the rule-of-law concerns by its general election next April, and will not have EU funds available until then.

Maltese MPs are voting Tuesday to legalise possession of cannabis for personal consumption. "I'm very glad that Malta will be the first country which will put words in statute in a comprehensive manner," the Maltese minister responsible for the move, Owen Bonnici, said, The Guardian reports. Luxembourg was also planning to legalise marijuana in a move expected next year. And Germany was preparing to create a legal cannabis market.

Germany's new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has said the EU should blacklist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik for stirring instability in the Western Balkan country. Dodik's actions were "unacceptable", Baerbock said after meeting EU foreign ministers in Brussels Monday, AP reports. The Republika Srpska's devolved parliament in Bosnia recently voted to create a new ethnic Serb army and intelligence service in a non-binding resolution.

Lithuania's foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said Monday he would not attend the 2022 Olympic Games in China, as France and the Netherlands sought a common EU position to highlight Chinese human rights abuses. The bloc is, however, hesitant over whether to join the US, Canada, Australia and Britain in not sending their government officials to the Beijing Winter Games in February, fearful of Chinese retaliation, Reuters reported.

"Believe me: there will be a zero tolerance for corruption and for every lev that goes in the wrong place," new Bulgarian prime minister Kiril Petkov told parliament on Monday, BalkanInsight reports. Bulgaria held three general and two presidential elections in 2021, which saw longtime ruling GERB party and its leader Boyko Borissov lose power amid protests and increasing corruption claims.

According to a document seen by Reuters, the European Commission on Wednesday (15 December) will propose a system of joint gas-buying. Gas imports from Russia in October and November were 25 percent lower than the same period of 2020. The document did not describe how joint procurement would work in practice, but said it was part of a push to strengthen EU gas storage systems.

The Omicron variant, reported in more than 60 countries, poses a "very high" global risk, with some evidence that it evades vaccine protection but clinical data on its severity is limited, the World Health Organization said. Researchers said there was no evidence yet Omicron caused more severe disease. Analysis by Oxford University showed a drop in antibodies reacting to Omicron, with many blood samples showing no response.

Denmark's former immigration minister Inger Stojberg was on Monday sentenced to 60 days jail for her policy of separating married asylum seekers.