France's army is to be strengthened by voluntary military service. There will beo conscription for the time being and service will be limited to the "national territory", President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday. This followed a statement by the Chief of the Defence Staff General Fabien Mandon, who warned that the country must be prepared to "lose its children" faced with the Russian threat.

The Estonian parliament decided last week to add a language component to the Military Service Act, making B1-level language skills a prerequisite for conscription. Wise decision or false incentive?

Britain's Treasury chief Rachel Reeeves presented the budget on Wednesday. By combining tax increases to the tune of 30 billion euros, more child subsidies and less debt, Keir Starmer's Labour government hopes to lead the country out of crisis. The budget proposals are "fair butecessary," Reeves claims. Opinions from the press are divided.

Germany's plan to lower electricity costs for its energy-intensive industries through state subsidies as of Januaryext year has put a cat among Europe's pigeons. Commentators point beyond Germany's borders, where the subsidies present an existential threat to the competitiveness of other Europeanations with similarly electricity-intensive structures.

Same-sex marriages that are registered in one EU member state must be recognised in all other EU countries, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Tuesday in Luxembourg. What prompted the decision? A homosexual couple who married in 2018 in Germany tried to register their marriage in Poland after moving there, but their request was rejected by Poland's restrictive legislation.