21/05 – Today’s headlines from across the EU

EUROPEAN HEADLINES

FT – Six big banks fined USD 5.6 billion over rigging of forex markets. “Massive scale” criminality, says FBI. Traders colluded in online chat rooms.

WSJE – Schäuble not ruling out Greek default. Minister welcomes UK talks on EU.

INYT – Fabled ruins at risk as ISIS approaches. Militants in Syria enter Palmyra, a crossroad of four ancient cultures.

BALTIC STATES

Baltic Times –Lithuanian citizen arrested in Moscow on spy charges. An agent of the Lithuanian secret service, named as Aristidas Tamosaitis, has been detained in Moscow on suspicion of spying, the public relations centre of the Russian security service FSB has told TASS.

FRANCE

Le Monde – Middle-school reform: Hollande forces it through and publishes the decree. After the relative failure of the teachers’ strike, the decree on the middle-school reform was published in the “Journal Officiel”. It will enter into force in September 2016.

Les Echos – Renault pushes back the limits of low-cost cars. Renault launches the Kwid, its new ultra low-cost vehicle, in India. The low-cost logic is exploited to the extreme to achieve a price below €6,000.

GERMANY

Frankfurter Allgemeine (FAZ) – Less and less approval for medically-assisted suicide. Only 63% of the respondents are in favour of it, while fear of dying decreases with age.

Suedeutsche Zeitung – EU to raise Athens’s hopes. Euro countries are considering extending the rescue package for Greece over the summer: reforms could bring new cash, and time would have been won for a third rescue package.

ITALY

La Repubblica – Arrested in Milan for Tunisia killings, he entered the country on a migrant boat. A 22-year old Moroccan national was arrested in Milan over suspected participation to the Bardo museum killings in Tunis. He allegedly entered Italian territory on a migrant boat.

Il Sole 24 Ore – Pensions: all the calculations for 2014 repayment are to come. In order to reimburse the pensions that hadn’t been indexed in 2014, the government forecasts to base the arrears on a progressive scale and not to restore them to pensions exceeding EUR 2,886 per month.

IRELAND

Irish Times – Gay marriage referendum: Yes vote will ‘obliterate prejudice’, says Enda Kenny. Margin now closing between sides in final stages of campaign, according to Ministers.

POLAND

Gazeta – Retiring after 40 years of work. President Bronisław Komorowski is proposing early retirement for people who have worked for 40 years. The offer extends to few Poles because most citizens have much shorter job experience.

SPAIN

El Pais – Ciudadanos and Podemos bet on PSOE for their future pacts. Rivera’s party has “more affinity” with Socialists. Podemos thinks that the traditional left-wing force will be its main interlocutor.

Expansion – Exports hit record high. The euro devaluation stimulates growth, which raised 4.4% in the first quarter.

The Times – Isis terror suspect smuggled to Europe. Moroccan held in Milan wanted over massacre.

The Guardian – Osborne: let the cuts begin. Axe to fall on Home Office, Justice and Transport in effort to find GDP 13 billion of savings.