France has experienced a quiet night after days of riots and the chaos experienced during the weekend following the protest over the rising cost of living. Only a few unauthorized demonstrations in Lyon and Rennes, and the occasional scene of looting, have disturbed the calm. The bans on demonstrations and the curfews decreed in different cities have served to return –at least for now– to normality. Large cities such as Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, and Lille will maintain partial curfews for tonight. In the case of the capital, the curfew affects all citizens –including tourists–, the Place de la République, and the Les Halles commercial area, epicenters of the violent acts of recent days. Despite the return of calm, the social crisis is far from being resolved and tension will return to the streets this Saturday in a new day of protest called by the yellow vests movement.

Europe is already preparing for the end of the war in Ukraine. Once the conflict is over, the Arctic will be the new security scenario on which the great powers will focus, and especially the Russian threat, community sources state. "With Russia and China increasing their footprint and ambition, the Arctic has become the new frontline of global power competition," summarized the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, who insisted that this "new reality" has forced a rethink of European strategy and made security a priority.

It is not just France. In Italy, Belgium, Germany, Albania, Greece, Portugal, and Spain, there are also protests underway. Most of the mobilizations have a common background: protesting against the rising cost of living. In the case of Italy, the protests have escalated this weekend in parallel to those in France. In the north of the country, the mobilizations have ended in riots, especially in Milan, where the police have arrested 271 people and the Prosecutor's Office has requested preventive detention for eleven protesters.

Donald Trump, who in his election campaign promised to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, began his second term by starring in an extremely tense meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, where he did not hide his disdain for the Ukrainian leader. That set off alarms in Kyiv and, although the two leaders apparently eased the tension, it has become clear in recent days that Trump continues to belittle the Ukrainian president, whom he points to as the culprit for not being able to reach a peace agreement while celebrating the alleged willingness of Vladimir Putin. And in all this context, aid from the United States to Ukraine has remained blocked for almost two years, since Trump returned to the White House.

New setback for the European Union's climate goals. The continent's economic engines, France and Germany, reached an agreement this Friday to soften the climate requirements for the automotive sector and maintain the manufacturing of combustion vehicles beyond 2035. This was announced by the French government in a statement, in which it details that the pact also includes tools to strengthen production conditions within Europe. This proposal has been a major demand from European manufacturers, who are currently working hastily to electrify in the face of strong Chinese competition.

Pedro Sánchez "arrives prepared" in Brussels to face the migration rebukes from his partners, including those from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, according to diplomatic sources. This week's leaders' summit will be the first time the Spanish Prime Minister has met with the Italian Prime Minister since the Ceuta crisis this summer. At the time, the leader's response to the massive influx of immigrants opened the floodgates for a confrontation over migration. Italy suspended free movement with Spanish travelers –a measure replicated by the Spanish government– and initiated a spiral of confrontation that has served to vindicate its model of external border control.

NATO claims to be prepared for an attack from Russia. NATO leadership has reiterated several times that it will not back down in the face of Moscow's threats and that it will defend "every inch of allied territory" against any aggression, but until now it had avoided detailing what this defense might consist of.

While Donald Trump eases the pressure on Vladimir Putin with a deal to put millions of barrels of Russian diesel on the market and demands that Volodymyr Zelensky call elections in Ukraine, the European Union reaffirms its support for Kyiv and urges Washington to do the same. The head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, announced this Monday the broadest sanctions package deployed so far against the Kremlin. The EU is incorporating nearly 1,600 names linked to the Russian military-industrial complex into the list of sanctioned individuals and entities.

Drones on the battlefield, drones in hybrid attacks... and also maritime drones. This week, two commercial vessels were attacked simultaneously with drones in the Black Sea. One of them sank and there were fatalities. The escalation of maritime drone attacks adds to the air strikes that continue to hit Ukraine. On Thursday, unmanned devices left six dead and 17 injured in Kyiv.

In the corridors of the European Parliament this week, a "very palpable concern" can be felt, asserts Jaume Asens. "There is a shared anxiety," agrees former European Commissioner László Andor. "All week I have received messages from colleagues on the left," explains Compromís MEP Vicent Marzà. "Everyone is asking about the issue," summarizes Javi López, also a socialist MEP.

The European Union is taking a giant step to prevent capital flight to the United States and to boost the continent's companies. The bloc's Economy and Finance ministers have agreed on a legislative package to unify and simplify financial rules across all EU countries with the goal of making it easier for the savings of EU citizens to be allocated to European companies and innovation projects.

Anti-drone shields, surveillance flights with warplanes, new battalions on NATO's eastern flank, increased arms production... Europe is immersed in an undeniable remilitarization race, but protection does not end in the military sphere. Faced with the increasing threat of hybrid attacks by Russia, the most exposed countries have also redoubled their efforts in civil defense.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, began her recent speech on the State of the Union with a quote from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities from 1859: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". Dickens wanted to describe the situation of Europe, London and Paris in particular, in the time of the French Revolution. It is an appropriate quote because the speed of change then and now was and is formidable. The best of times for the opportunities it represents, the worst for the turbulence and dangers.

Negotiations have begun to define what the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union should look like, a vital policy for the agricultural and livestock sector in the country. The Agriculture ministers of the Twenty-seven debated this Monday the first lines of work outlined by the European Commission for the new CAP. The reform, however, proposes fewer resources and more leeway for states to decide how to distribute them. In Catalonia, the sector views the proposal with concern because it fears that this flexibility will end up cutting aid and creating inequalities between territories.

The deepest transatlantic crisis in recent times closed at the latest UN summit in New York. The handshake between United States President Donald Trump, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has sealed—at least apparently—the diplomatic fire ignited in January, when Washington launched a campaign of pressure and threats against the Arctic island. "In the Kingdom of Denmark, the United States has a friend and an ally it can always rely on," the Danish leader stated.

The European automotive sector is in a difficult moment. Electrification, Chinese competition, and stagnant consumer demand have pushed the European Union to take measures to protect the sector. But they are leading the industry down the "wrong" path. Brussels is trying to protect the European industry from foreign competition instead of making it more competitive. This is the conclusion of a report by the prestigious think tank Bruegel, on European policies, published this week, in which it warns that the continent's prosperity "is at stake".

After a tough negotiation, representatives of the European Union member states managed to approve new sanctions against Russia this Tuesday evening. The agreement, which until now was renewed every six months, includes sanctions against 3,000 Russian citizens and will be extended for the next three years. However, it leaves off the list two Russian billionaires close to the Kremlin, Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman.

Brussels is once again rapping Spain's knuckles over fiscal matters. The European Fiscal Board, the body that oversees the sustainability of public finances, reproaches the Spanish executive for requesting to activate the exemption clause from fiscal rules to spend more on defense, while this item only increased by 0.1% of the gross domestic product (GDP, the indicator that measures the size of an economy). Instead, Spain deviated by 0.4% of GDP from the recommended net expenditure trajectory.

The Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, has a clear answer. One of the "greatest obstacles" to making Catalan, Basque, and Galician official in the European Union is his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani. Or, put another way, the pressure that the Spanish PP exerts on its partners. This is what he stated in a speech this Wednesday at the plenary session of Congress, in which he accused Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party of influencing the European People's Party to "halt" this initiative. "The gentleman from Italy whom you invite to your congresses and whom Feijóo is always hugging is one of the biggest obstacles to these languages not yet being official –he asserted–. Have you reproached him for doing this? I have".

Michael Ignatieff (Toronto, 1947), an intellectual specializing in human rights and democracy, was also the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, a country currently in vogue in Europe and threatened by Donald Trump. Winner of the 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, he is also the author of an honest book about his failed stint in politics, Fire and Ashes. He has now been in Barcelona for the presentation of the Cidob International Yearbook. Ignatieff speaks clearly, highlighting the grave moment the international landscape is experiencing. And he insists on one idea: we must wake up.