Euobserver.com

The new Treaty of Aachen, to be signed by French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel in the border city later this month (22 January), will see Paris agree to push for Germany to have a permanent seat on the UN security council, according to Reuters. The treaty, not yet published, was signed off by the German cabinet on Wednesday.

Any 'Plan B' Brexit debate and vote if Theresa May's withdrawal agreement is voted down next week would only last 90 minutes, Downing Street said Thursday. The British government already lost two Brexit-related votes this week, including one which now forces May to return to parliament with the back-up plan within three days. She is widely-expected to lose the crunch vote on the deal next Tuesday (15 January).

With the country's de facto leader filing a lawsuit at the EU's top court over report accusing him of corruption, and concerns of the country's rule of law, Romania's EU presidency kicked off in Bucharest to a rocky start.

Hungary's nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban, on Thursday called for "anti-migration politicians" to take over Europe's institutions after May's European elections. At a rare press conference in Budapest, Orban also hailed a new partnership between Poland's rightwing government and Italy's populist interior minister, Matteo Salvini, as the "most wonderful development of the year so far". "I have high hopes for it," he added.

A European Court of Justice advocate general, in a non-binding opinion, decided in favour of Google in a case where French data authorities want the internet giant to ensure the 'right to be forgotten' is not geo-blocked. For instance, Google does not apply the 'right to be forgotten' in queries carried out in the United States. The dispute involves politicians, the Church of Scientology, and sexual assaults against minors.

German chancellor Angela Merkel arrives in Greece on Thursday as Alexis Tsipras' government risks losing its parliamentary majority. His junior coalition parter, led by defence minister Panos Kammenos, threatens to pull support for a name-deal with neighbouring Macedonia which Germany and the EU hoped could foster stability in the Balkan region. On Friday, Merkel meets conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis - who is also opposed to the deal with Macedonia.

Orthodox values, opposition to EU institutions, and friendship with Russia should form the backbone of a new Italian-Polish league, Italy's Matteo Salvini has said.

Following a vote in the UK parliament on Wednesday, UK prime minister Theresa May will be forced to produce a plan B within three days if she does not have her Brexit deal with Brussels accepted by parliament in a vote scheduled for Tuesday 15 January. While the Labour party pushes for a general election, others see an extension to the 29 March Brexit date becoming more likely.

Eric Drouet, one leader of the 'Yellow Vest' protest movement in France, said Wednesday he would accept an invitation to meet Italian Five-Star leader, Luigi Di Maio, ANSA reported. Interviewed by Italian newspaper Il Fatto Guotidiano, Di Maio said he wanted to form a group for this year's European elections. Another Yellow Vest leader, Jacline Mouraud, said however on Tuesday that Di Maio was meddling in French domestic affairs.

An American pension fund on Wednesday sued Danske Bank and four former chief executives at a court in New York for inflating the price of its shares artificially by hiding and failing to stop widespread money-laundering at its Estonian branch. The bank stands accused for being "intentionally less than forthcoming" after a whistleblower alerted Danish regulators to suspected money-laundering, resulting in huge drop in the banks market value.

The leader of Romania's ruling Social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea, has filed a lawsuit against the European Commission at the European Court of Justice, after being sentenced to three and a half years in prison by Romania's Supreme Court for corruption involving EU funds. The fraud amounted to €21m from European Union funds linked to a road construction firm called Tel Drum. The conviction bars Dragnea from becoming prime minister.

Far-right party Vox, which sent shockwaves through Spain after winning a surprise 12 seats in Andalusia in December, announced on Wednesday it would vote next week in favour of a new conservative government in the southern region, replacing the Socialist Party. Vox was the first far-right party to win representation in a Spanish regional parliament since the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

If the UK "crashes out [of the EU], there will inevitably be a hardening of the border", Ireland's Sinn Fein party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, told EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. The next logical step, she said, would then be for the government in Dublin to start preparations for a referendum on unification, she was quoted saying by the Irish Times.

France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania have agreed to relocate the 49 migrants stuck on two NGO boats moored, for almost three weeks, off Malta's coast.

Britain's opposition Labour party has promised to table a no-confidence vote in Theresa May's government next week, if she loses the parliamentary vote on Tuesday (15 January) on the Brexit withdrawal deal. With the deal looking almost certain to be voted down, ahead of the March 29 exit, that brings the threat of a snap general election in the UK closer - although May may still survive the no-confidence vote.

European Parliament president, Antonio Tajani, called on Wednesday for stronger cooperation between Africa and Europe by organising yearly EU-Africa summits instead of now meeting only every three years. Opening a conference in the European Parliament organised by the ECR group, he said the next EU budget for 2021-2027 should lead to more EU investment in Africa and brought up an older idea of building a Europe-Africa "sea motorway".

Iran ordered four terrorist attacks in Europe in recent times, the EU has said, while imposing new sanctions.

German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron will sign a bilateral cooperation and integration agreement on 22 January at a ceremony in Aachen town hall, the German government announced on Tuesday. The new Treaty of Aachen builds on the Elysee Treaty of 1963 on reconciliation between Germany and France and will further strengthen relations in areas such as economic policy, foreign and security policy.

A majority of 303-296 in the UK parliament approved on Tuesday a bill forcing Theresa May's government to ask explicit parliamentary approval to leave the EU without a deal before it can use certain powers relating to taxation law. Some 20 members of May's Conservative Party are understood to have voted against the government.

British MPs will vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal next Tuesday (15 January), Downing Street has confirmed. The initial vote on the withdrawal deal, drawn up between London and Brussels, was postponed in December after May conceded she did not have enough support to get the deal through parliament. Defeat still looks likely, with the opposition Labour party set to vote against, as well as many rebel Conservative MPs.