The choice of Katalin Novák allows him to highlight the work she has done to promote family values in Hungary. They will remain the priority of Novák’s focus, in contrast to Áder for whom environmental issues were the subject of his attention. The promotion of a woman to the highest office also allows Orbán to respond to accusations that his policies are outdated. 

Placing little faith in verbal assurances, Putin called for legally binding agreements. “We know the price of such verbal assurances, words, and promises,” he asserted.

In it, von der Leyen seeks to ameliorate the EU’s relationship with the Pope after a proposed internal directive for EU officials not to use Christian language was leaked, causing outcry across Europe. The document has since been withdrawn.

The Italian birthrate, which has been well below replacement levels for over four decades, fell to a record low of 1.16 births per woman in 2020 as would-be parents grappled with socially oppressive and economically ruinous COVID-19 lockdowns.

The choice for tougher measures for unvaccinated people a few days before Christmas will have a direct impact on the presidential campaign, as it invites the candidates to take a stand on this particularly divisive issue.

The three parties (SPD, Greens, FDP) that form new Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government have long opposed the current rules, but were hampered by the center-right Union bloc of ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel, which is now in opposition.

Boric was a leader in the student protests in 2011 before entering politics. He unexpectedly became a presidential candidate when he beat the communist party candidate, Daniel Jadue in primaries last May. During the campaign before the second elections, he moderated his radical image—though Boric has denied being a communist.

Germany’s vice-chancellor and economics minister, Robert Habeck, has come out with strong reservations about turning on the already-constructed pipeline, putting him at odds with Chancellor Olaf Scholtz. 

The famous Polish trade union, which played a decisive role in the late 1980s in the fight against communism and the fall of the dictatorial regime in Poland, has been criticized by French trade unions for its excessive complacency towards two personalities of the French Right, Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour.

Franziska Giffey was elected with 84 votes in favor (out of 139) in the House of Representatives, making her the first woman appointed to the highest office of Berlin politics.

Widely ignored by the establishment press, the annual Party Congress of Germany’s Social Democratic Party—which is the Federal Health Minister’s party—has been funded by Pfizer, which is projected to rake in €32 billion this year through sales of its COVID-19 vaccine.

The traditionalists’ response to the news—and implied impugnation—was irate. Various prominent commentators decried the move, some claiming it to be a petty attack by the Pontiff on faithful Catholics—already distressed by the pandemic-driven closing of church doors and growing economic uncertainty.