Euobserver.com

MEPs and other EU staff hid in restaurants and alleys in Strasbourg during a gunman's rampage in the French city on Tuesday evening.

Conservative MPs will have a no-confidence vote on prime minister Theresa May's leadership on Wednesday night, after at least 48 of her MPs (15 percent) sent letters calling for the vote, automatically triggering a contest. If she loses, the vote could lead to a new Conservative leadership contest in which May could not stand. If winning, she may chose to stay or decide to stand down as party leader.

The European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the 2019 EU budget on Wednesday, after the Council on Tuesday agreed to spending of €165.8bn next year, 3.2 percent more than the 2018 budget. The Horizon 2020 program will get €12.3bn to support research and innovation, up 9.8 percent. The budget is based on the premise that the UK will continue to contribute until the end of 2020.

The European Central Bank's public sector purchase programme (PSPP) does not infringe EU law, the European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday, in a case first brought to the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany by several groups. The ECB has accumulated €2.6 trillion in assets since the programme started in March 2015, which will be reinvested as the scheme comes to a close this month.

The European Commission decided on Tuesday to offer Switzerland six additional months to agree on a new treaty on future relations with the European Union, Reuters reported. Last week the Swiss Federal Council decided to carry out a national consultation with relevant groups such as political parties, cantons, parliament and associations on the draft deal - under which Swiss rules would automatically adapt to be in line with EU law.

French police evacuated the city centre and held back MEPs in the Strasbourg parliament building on Tuesday evening, after three people were killed and 12 others wounded in a shooting close to a popular Christmas market near one of the central squares, Place Kleber. Many MEPs had left the parliament when the shooting began and were trapped in restaurants while police cleared the area.

Italy's deputy premier Luigi Di Maio suggested on Tuesday the European Commission should worry about France's budget plans, not just Italy's. "If the deficit/GDP rules are valid for Italy, then I expect them to be valid for Macron," Di Maio said. After caving in to protesters' demands, the French deficit could be 3.4 percent of GDP next year while Italy is under pressure to reduce its deficit of 2.4 percent.

It is obvious that Babis´s family is benefiting from the economic success of Agrofert, which in turn is influenced by its receipt of EU funds and subsidies, even if Andrej himself is not named.

EU top officials and German chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU would not renegotiate the Brexit deal, but talks are underway to design a clarification that could help the British prime minister get her parliamentary majority.

MEPs ultimately adopted a controversial report on an EU trade deal with Morocco - despite the sudden resignation by French liberal Patricia Lalonde as the file's rapporteur only moments beforehand. Her departure follows an EUobserver investigation into lobbying by Morocco.

EU climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete gives a state of play of talks at Katowice COP24 summit. The yellow jackets protests are merely "internal French politics".

The vote in the UK parliament on the Brexit deal will now happen "before January 21", said Theresa May's official spokesman. The crunch vote - which could decide both the future of any Brexit and May's premiership - was due to take place on Tuesday (11 December), but was postponed after May admitted it was doomed to be outvoted. May is now touring EU capitals.

EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker warned British PM Theresa May on Tuesday that "there is no room whatsoever for renegotiation". Juncker, who will meet May later on Tuesday in Brussels, said the Brexit deal achieved is the best and only agreement possible. However, he said there is "enough room" to give further clarifications on the backstop to be put in place to keep the Irish border open.

Russian propaganda activity has raised alarm of further escalation in Ukraine, amid other concern on Moscow's role in French rioting.

The British prime minister dramatically delayed a parliamentary vote on the Brexit deal at the last minute, as she faced defeat. Theresa May will now speed-tour EU capitals to try to secure further political guarantees.

The world's first-ever global pact on how to deal with migration was adopted on Monday by 164 countries at a conference in Marrakesh, Morocco. Seven EU countries, Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Latvia and Slovakia did not sign the UN pact, while German chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed it, saying that it was high time the international community came to a more realistic understanding over global migration.

A special scheme helping companies do business with Iran and bypass US sanctions will be completed by the end of the year, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters after a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers on Monday. "I expect this instrument to be established in the coming weeks before the end of the year as a way to protect and promote legitimate business," Mogherini said.

After more than three years of purchases of €2.6 trillion of government and corporate bonds, the European Central Bank is expected to announce on Thursday that it will end its quantitative easing (QE) programme. The governing council said in October that it would continue to make net purchases under the asset purchase programme of monthly €15bn, but only until the end of December 2018.

French president Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday a €100 per month increase in the minimum wage from 2019 and cancelled an increase in social contributions for pensioners earning less than €2,000 monthly, in a major concession to the so-called 'Yellow Vest' protests. "The effort we asked for was too big and was not fair," Macron admitted in a 13-minute TV address from the Elysee Palace.

Most migrants, like most European citizens, would rather have proper contracts, pay taxes and benefit from the social services rather than toil in the fields for up to 15 hours a day, in dangerous conditions, for meagre pay.