Eurotopics.net

Shortly before COP25 - the UN Climate Change Conference - kicks off in Madrid, a new UN report has set alarm bells ringing: the goals of the Paris Agreement can only be met by slashing greenhouse emissions by seven percent per year over the next decade. None of the national climate plans formulated so far would achieve this goal. On the contrary, greenhouse gas emissions are increasing worldwide. Commentators demand action.

The European Parliament approved Ursula von der Leyen's new EU Commission by 461 votes to 151 on Wednesday. Europe's commentators see this as a success for the new Commission president but suspect she won't always receive this much backing from the Parliament in the future.

The prime minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, is under growing pressure over the 2017 murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. On Monday his chief of staff Keith Schembri resigned, followed shortly afterward by tourism minister Konrad Mizzi. Economics minister Chris Cardona has suspended himself from duty. All three men are under investigation. Commentators demand consequences, also at the EU level.

According to a survey conducted by pollster Levada, 53 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds in Russia want to emigrate. That's a record figure for the last ten years: in 2014, only 22 percent of the age group expressed this wish. What is behind this desire to leave: the economic situation, the political regime - or entirely different reasons?

The European Parliament is due to vote today on the new EU Commission, which will then in all likelihood commence its activities on December 1. Europe's press outlines the challenges von der Leyen's team faces and mulls over how they can be met.