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This week a draft law was presented to the Russian Duma that would make derogatory statements about the state and its representatives and the deliberate spreading of socially relevant fake news punishable offences. Russian commentators discuss what goals the government is pursuing with this legislation.
Source: eurotopics.net

The Court of Justice of the European Union issued a judgment on Monday, saying that the UK can unilaterally revoke its notification of intention to withdraw from the EU.
Source: jurist.org

The UN migration pact has been passed in Marrakesh with the votes of roughly 150 countries. The vote was preceded by intense debate in many places, and Belgium's government collapsed as a result. The document establishes international rules on how migration is to be dealt with, but is not legally binding. Even now that it has been signed the pact remains controversial among Europe's commentators.
Source: eurotopics.net

After two weeks of tense negotiations, nearly 200 governments agreed late Saturday on a rulebook to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Source:  politico.eu

A new law in Hungary will allow employers to raise the amount of overtime they can demand from their employees to 400 hours per year and give them up to three years to pay for it. The opposition is calling the new regulation a slave law and tried to prevent the parliamentary vote on it. Trade unions are demonstrating against the legislation in Budapest. Commentators also fail to see anything good about it.
Source: eurotopics.net

On orders from Russia’s federal censor, Internet service providers across the country started blocking Alexey Navalny’s “Smart Vote” project on Friday, three days after Moscow’s Tagansky District Court ruled that the site’s domain name registrar, the French company “Gandi SAS,” violates privacy protection laws.
Source: meduza.io

Belgium's cabinet decided not to index excise duties on gasoline and diesel in 2019, saving about 1.5 cents per liter, Flemish broadcaster VRT reported, a step that removes one of the main public grievances of Belgium's Yellow Jackets protest movement. Protesters are expected to gather in the EU district and block traffic across the city.
Source: politico.eu

More than 400 academics in the fields of political science, law and other disciplines express their worries that electoral monitors in Spain are being threatened with jail over their role in Catalonia’s independence referendum.
Source: theguardian.com

The Central European University (CEU), established by George Soros, will move a large part of its campus from Budapest to Vienna in the coming academic year. A new law prohibits the private university from awarding US diplomas. The Orbán government has also refused to sign an agreement with the State of New York that would have made it possible for the university to continue operating in the Hungarian capital.
Source:  eurotopics.net

Ireland’s lower house of parliament, the Dáil Éireann, on Wednesday approved a bill legalizing abortion services. The bill, titled the Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy, allows the elective termination of pregnancies before 12 weeks.
Source: jurist.org

The parliament in Rome passed a new security and immigration decree with a vote of confidence. It comprises tougher regulations for migrants and is intended to boost security in cities. Italian journalists, however, doubt that it will fulfil this purpose.
Source: eurotopics.net

The French National Assembly voted on Friday in favor of a ban on smacking children, bringing them in line with other European countries. The change in their civil code was approved 51-1 and will now go to the Senate for approval.
Source: jurist.org