25/02 – Today’s headlines from across the EU

EUROPEAN HEADLINES

FT Europe – IMF urges top economies to join forces in growth push. New market tremors amid oil fears; Lew damps hopes of G20 action.

WSJE – Bookies offer U.K. guide. Investors sceptical of polls are looking toward betting odds on EU exit vote.

INYT – Radical idea for Libya: Revive monarchy. With nation in tatters, calls grow for a king, if only as a temporary fix.

BBC Europe – Migrant crisis: EU meeting seeks to heal growing rifts.Ministers from EU and Balkan nations are meeting in Brussels to try to heal rifts over migrants that have plunged common policy into chaos. Austria, Serbia and Macedonia have taken their own steps to limit entry to migrants, angering Greece, which fears the controls will cause a bottleneck.

FRANCE

Le Monde – Former minister Martine Aubry’s plea. The former French minister Martine Aubry opposes the government policy on employment issues, labour reform, migrants and nationality stripping in an op-ed penned with several other personalities.

Les Echos – PSA, the resurgence. The carmaker records profit for the first time in five years. Restructuring by Carlos Tavares bears fruits earlier than expected.

GERMANY

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung – Austria and Balkan countries aim at a massive reduction of the migration flow. Vienna Conference supports the Former Yugoslav Republic of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In Hungary, Viktor Orbán announces a referendum.

Sueddeutsche Zeitung – Balkan summit in Vienna divides Europe. Ten countries under Austrian lead break with the open borders policy and look for common ways to throttle the flow of refugees coming from Greece. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras complains to Angela Merkel.

ITALY

La Repubblica – Civil union: agreement reached, adoption dismissed. Confidence vote today. Agreement PD-NCD, ‘yes’ from Denis Verdini’s supporters. Fidelity obligation gave up, protests in front of the Senate. Electoral reform in danger: reviewed by the Constitutional court.

Il Sole 24 Ore – Oil strikes down stock markets, Milan stock exchange loses 2,6%. The price of oil has dipped under $31 before some small recuperation. Wall street is hit but got better before closing.

POLAND

Gazeta Wyborcza – Schengen Zone unravelling. Belgium is the seventh member of the Schengen Zone to restore border controls. Will the inflow of refugees destroy the European Union’s political unity?

SPAIN

El País – PP and Podemos will make the Sánchez’ and Rivera’s pact fail. Rajoy considers the deal as “an empty promise that will be useless”. Errejón warns that the election of Socialists is “incompatible with Podemos”. Metroscopia study: a large majority wants the PP to renew itself..

The Times – Police conspired to protect Rotherham child sex abusers. Corrupt police and an influential politician fuelled a culture of impunity that allowed three brothers to “own” the town of Rotherham and abuse children until their crimes were exposed by The Times.

The Guardian – Police failings in Rotherham under scrutiny. Six men and women were yesterday found guilty of offences relating to the sexual exploitation of teenage girls in Rotherham.