The ruling Reform Party expects the speaker of the Riigikogu to take the lead in organizing discussions on the presidential election and believes the initiative in putting forward candidates should come primarily from the opposition.

A new survey on religion shows that traditional church‑based religiosity in Estonia is continuing to decline, and most Estonian residents do not consider themselves followers of any religion. The study also found that attitudes toward religion differ sharply between Estonians and Russian‑speaking residents.

The ruling Reform Party expects the speaker of the Riigikogu to take the lead in organizing discussions on the presidential election and believes the initiative in putting forward candidates should come primarily from the opposition.

Parliamentary parties will spend this week discussing ways to agree on a joint candidate in an effort to elect the president in the Riigikogu. Members of the European Parliament elected from Estonia believe reaching a consensus is possible.

A new survey on religion shows that traditional church‑based religiosity in Estonia is continuing to decline, and most Estonian residents do not consider themselves followers of any religion. The study also found that attitudes toward religion differ sharply between Estonians and Russian‑speaking residents.

Many women avoid traveling alone after dark and adjust their daily routines because of safety concerns. A recent master's thesis suggests that people's sense of safety is also shaped by whether others are present in public spaces and whether help is available if needed.

1908 – Siberis Podkamennaja Tunguska lähedal toimus plahvatus, mida tänapäeval tuntakse Tunguusi meteoriidiplahvatuse nime all.

Monaco kortermajas sai esmaspäeval toimunud plahvatuses haavata kolm inimest, kelle hulgas teismeline, teatasid võimuesindajad.

The male suspect who has been arrested was in a custody dispute over his baby daughter, police say.

The Russian president acknowledged Ukraine's attacks were "obviously creating problems" but denied the shortages were "critical".

Three in five homes listed for sale since January remain on the market, says property portal Zoopla.

The Fire (Financially Independent, Retire Early) movement sees followers save as much as possible.

For more than two decades, EU Regulation EC261 has been one of Europe’s clearest consumer success stories. It transformed air passenger rights from vague promises into enforceable protections, while creating powerful incentives for airlines to improve operational reliability. The results are measurable: EU passengers today are 70 percent less likely to face delays exceeding three hours and face 20 percent less same-day cancellations than travellers in the United States, where no comparable system exists. It is a framework that successfully prevents an estimated 8,400 hours of flight delays every year. Such changes would amount to one of the most significant rollbacks of existing air passenger rights in history. That is precisely why the European Parliament is right to stand firm and draw a definitive red line against weakening these protections. Moving beyond false compromises As legislative discussions continue, the European Parliament has consistently resisted regressive proposals, including those advanced during the Cypriot Council Presidency, which sought to drastically reduce compensation levels. Under the proposal, baseline compensation for delays over three hours could fall from €250 to as little as €83, cutting payouts for delays between three and seven hours by up to 66%. Such changes would amount to one of the most significant rollbacks of existing air passenger rights in history. By holding firm on its red line and defending the existing three-hour delay threshold, Parliament is protecting one of Europe’s most important consumer rights frameworks. If the goal is genuine modernization, the focus should be on strengthening the effectiveness of passenger protections, not weakening them. Restoring the real value of EC261 The real value of EC261 compensation has eroded substantially since the regulation entered into force in February 2005. Cumulative inflation over this period has been 58.6 percent, according to the European Central Bank. In 2005 values, the current €250 compensation is now worth less than €160 and the €600 compensation is worth just under €380. Passengers therefore already receive significantly less effective protection than when the regulation was introduced, while airlines have benefited from the declining real cost of compensation over time. Compensation levels must be indexed to ensure EC261 remains effective. The economic reality of diluted rights Reducing compensation to symbolic amounts strips the regulation of its primary purpose: consumer protection and accountability. An independent economic analysis by Dr. Hinnerk Gnutzmann and Dr. Piotr Śpiewanowski confirms the scale of this risk. Their study concludes that under these proposed changes, total compensation actually paid to passengers would fall by 74 percent, while approximately 83 percent of delay claims would become effectively unenforceable. EC261 is effective because it creates a clear financial incentive for airlines to minimize avoidable disruption and resolve claims properly. This is not a theoretical concern. Airlines already reject 52 percent of valid initial claims, forcing many passengers to rely on legal representatives or consumer bodies to enforce their rights. If compensation levels fall to €83, pursuing claims would become economically unviable at scale, effectively shutting passengers out of meaningful enforcement. Rights may remain on paper, but access to justice would steadily disappear in practice. But the consequences would extend far beyond compensation itself. EC261 is effective because it creates a clear financial incentive for airlines to minimize avoidable disruption and resolve claims properly. Weakening that deterrent would reduce pressure on airlines to maintain punctuality, while increasing the incentive to reject valid claims in the expectation that few passengers will be able to challenge those decisions. The illusion of automated forms To offset these reductions, the Council has placed significant political faith in automated compensation forms, framing them as a technological solution that can simplify claim filings. While digitization is a welcome step, automated paperwork cannot replace substantive legal rights. Even if these forms could make a positive impact, they lose all efficacy if compensation amounts decrease. Simplifying the filing process is entirely meaningless if the underlying claim is financially unviable to pursue; if compensation is cut to symbolic levels, meaningful enforcement becomes impossible, rendering any new paperwork system useless. Preserving a global standard EC261 has become the global gold standard for air passenger rights because it successfully balances strong consumer protection with a thriving aviation market. Its principles have been mirrored worldwide by nations seeking to replicate Europe’s high standards of punctuality and accountability. The European Parliament’s unified resistance is the only barrier protecting passengers from a severe loss of rights. If the EU council refuses to put citizens first and continues to offer trade-offs that favor airline balance sheets over consumer protection, the path forward is clear: it is better to let this regressive proposal fall entirely and maintain the current, working rules of EC261. Weakening a global benchmark is a step backward that Europe’s travellers cannot afford. About APRA The Association of Passenger Rights Advocates (APRA), founded in 2017 by the world’s leading air passenger compensation companies, represents the interests of air passengers to provide maximum protection. The association actively engages in constructive dialogue with European and national institutions, airlines, airports, national law enforcement agencies and other key stakeholders. APRA offers a combination of robust data, in-depth analysis and collective knowledge to inform policymakers and promote the interests of European air passengers. www.apra-eu.com POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT The sponsor is Association of Passenger Rights Advocates (APRA) The entity ultimately controlling the sponsor is Association of Passenger Rights Advocates (APRA) The political advertisement is linked to advocacy regarding EU Regulation EC261 – opinion. More information here.

Barcelona’s short-term rental (STR) market is not a regulatory gap waiting to be filled. STRs have been regulated since 1998 and a moratorium on new licences has existed since 2014. Since then, the number of STRs has held steady at roughly 10,000 units for over a decade — barely 1 percent of total housing stock. Yet Mayor Jaume Collboni intends to remove all legal STRs from the market by 2028. Framed as a housing remedy, the decision raises a broader and uncomfortable question for Brussels: how far can a public authority go in eliminating a lawful, regulated economic activity without first demonstrating that the measure is necessary, proportionate and effective? A housing promise that doesn’t add up Mayor Collboni has placed eliminating STRs at the center of his housing agenda. The promise is simple: remove STRs and those homes will return to residents. But evidence demonstrates the opposite. The city council has yet to demonstrate how eliminating legally licensed STRs would result in putting those houses on the market. The city’s own research undermines their objective. The Barcelona Institute of Economics’ study, commissioned by the city council itself in September 2025, acknowledged that a full conversion of STR units to residential use “could be partial or might not occur at all for various reasons. For example, some homes could move to the seasonal rental market or remain closed and vacant pending court rulings.” The promise is simple: remove STRs and those homes will return to residents. But evidence demonstrates the opposite. New York’s 2023 STR ban already offers a cautionary precedent: it did not slow rent growth or improve housing supply. Instead, it created an unaffordable tourism destination with one of the world’s most expensive hotel markets, averaging above $300 per night. Less competition does not mean lower prices, usually it means the opposite. As Marian Muro, general director of Apartur (Barcelona Tourist Apartments Association), explains: “Barcelona’s affordability crisis is real, but its roots lie elsewhere: a chronic shortage of affordable housing, slow and rigid planning procedures, limited new construction, and a substantial stock of vacant properties that remain off the market. Rental prices have risen by up to 70 percent according to data from Barcelona City Council and Idealista — yet STR licences have been capped since 2014. If short-term rentals were driving the crisis, prices should have stabilised as supply held flat. They did not. None of those structural problems will be resolved by removing a regulated activity that has not grown in over a decade.” Graph showing the absence of a correlation between the number of STRs and rising rents Yet the Barcelona city council is deploying publicly funded advertising to present this unproven hypothesis as settled fact — less than a year before municipal elections in May 2027. There is a meaningful difference between a political party advocating for a position and a public administration using public funds to run what is, in effect, a pre-electoral political campaign. City Council announcement in the run-up to the elections: “In Barcelona, in 2028, short-term letting licences will be abolished”. Barcelona keeps inviting the world, but can’t explain where to put it Barcelona spent decades positioning itself as Europe’s premier event destination — a magnet for congresses, festivals, trade fairs and international talent. Just months ago, Mayor Collboni was celebrating the extension of Barcelona’s airport, signaling the city’s ambition to welcome even more visitors. Yet the same mayor intends to eliminate a sector that provides up to 40 percent of the city’s accommodation capacity during peak events, according to the official Tourism Observatory. The past two months illustrate the scale of the contradiction: Barcelona simultaneously hosted Sónar Festival, the Pope’s visit, Primavera Sound, the International Congress of Architects, and a Bad Bunny concert — all relying on the accommodation flexibility that STRs provide. The tension has not gone unnoticed. During Mobile World Congress (MWC), Apartur launched a campaign highlighting this contradiction: “Coming to Barcelona for a conference? Get ready to sleep in a booth.” John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA, acknowledged the accommodation challenge openly, suggesting his organization may need to fall back on solutions like university housing: “We will be creative … to find ways for people to continue participating in MWC.” When the organizer of the world’s largest mobile technology event is exploring university dormitories or even boats as a contingency plan for delegates, the contradiction is no longer hypothetical. Apartur continued to raise the alarm through its latest campaign targeting attendees of Barcelona’s festival season, warning that if the ban goes ahead, visitors in 2028 may struggle to find affordable accommodation. Apartur campaign visual: “POV: Going to a festival in Barcelona in 2028”. A city cannot credibly invite the entire world and simultaneously dismantle the infrastructure that makes the invitation viable. Chart showing the impact of the ban on STRs on major events such as Mobile World Congress and Sónar The cost: 40,000 jobs at risk and a city priced out of reach The downside risks are concrete. Projections by PwC put more than 40,000 direct and indirect jobs at stake — linked to cleaning, maintenance, transport, and local services. Reduced accommodation supply means less competition, higher prices and diminished accessibility for families, students, budget travelers or other visitors who need to stay in Barcelona while they or their loved ones are receiving medical treatment. The spillover matters beyond accommodation. When visitors spend more on lodging, they spend less elsewhere. As Barcelona’s local restaurants association warned, “if visitor numbers fall, so do hospitality businesses, jobs and city GDP.” Families bear a particular burden. The European Large Families Confederation wrote to Mayor Collboni in December 2025 urging reconsideration, noting that STRs offer the space and flexibility families with children require — and that alternatives “often mean booking multiple hotel rooms at double or triple the cost.” Regulate, not eliminate: What Europe actually says Framing this as tourism versus residents may be politically convenient but institutionally thin. The real question is whether a major European city can eliminate a lawful, licensed economic activity without a credible causal case — and what precedent that sets for Europe. European institutions acknowledge that cities have the right to regulate STRs — but that is not a blank check to ban them. The Commission’s forthcoming Affordable Housing Act will allow cities to act on STRs in housing-stressed areas, provided measures are “justified and proportionate”. Energy and Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen made the Commission’s position plain before the European Parliament’s Housing Committee on December 2: the Commission will not propose a ban on STRs because it “would be disproportionate” and “would not be a good idea”. The European Parliament’s own Resolution on the Housing Crisis calls for “a fair balance between tourism development and housing affordability”, with any local measures remaining necessary, appropriate and proportionate under Court of Justice of the European Union case law. This is not a best practice to be inspired by, but a tangible example of missed opportunity and political scapegoating that should be avoided at all costs. Ahead of the Affordable Housing Act’s publication, EU institutions should see Barcelona for what it is: not a best practice to be inspired by, but a tangible example of missed opportunity and political scapegoating that should be avoided at all costs. Disclaimer POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT The sponsor is APARTUR (Associació d’Apartaments Turístics de Barcelona) . The entity ultimately controlling the sponsor is APARTUR (Associació d’Apartaments Turístics de Barcelona). This article is linked to the EU-level legislative process – European Commission Affordable Housing Act (forthcoming), including the regulation of short-term rentals in housing-stressed areas. More information here.

Ukrainian oligarch reported to be among injured in explosion at residential building in the Mediterranean principality.

Residents lit candles on Monday evening near the site of a shooting that killed six staff members at a German shelter.

Two people said to be in critical condition after CCTV shows man dropping backpack at residential building lobbyAn explosion in Monaco has triggered a police hunt for a man suspected of detonating a makeshift bomb that injured three people.The blast occurred on Monday evening in the semi-enclave famous for casinos and superyachts, French media reported. Continue reading...

Two sides agree to try to make bilateral relationship ‘more balanced’ after weeks of threatsThe EU and China have agreed to enter three months of talks to try to avoid a trade war over the bloc’s €360bn (£310bn) annual import/export imbalance.In their first joint statement in seven years, the two sides agreed in Brussels to open a formal trade consultation after weeks of threats and recriminations from China if the EU imposed any measures to stop the flood of goods and components into the bloc. Continue reading...

Government accepts proposal to appoint a national maternity and neonatal commissioner

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