THE 5 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

We already have the first finalist of the Qatar World Cup: The world at the feet of Leo Messi.

After an intense month, it seems that the Qatar World Cup is coming to an end. After a hectic quarterfinals, full of frenetic matches and intense emotions, yesterday the first semifinal of the tournament was played: Argentina-Croatia.

In the preliminary round, Morocco once again pulled off a shock, beating Portugal 1-0 with a rocky and defensive style of play, with a solitary goal by En-Nesyri. This is how Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese legend, bids farewell to what is probably his last World Cup. Also noteworthy was the tight clash between France and England, in which the French won 2-1 after Kane missed England's second penalty kick. Despite the French victory, the British generated more chances and deserved more.

On the other side of the draw, Croatia also pulled off a surprise by beating Brazil. After the match ended 0-0, Brazil took the lead in extra time with a spectacular goal by Neymar. But in the final minutes, Petkovi? levelled the score on the counterattack. In a fateful penalty shootout, Livakovi? was crowned Hero after saving a penalty, and that, added to Marquinhos' final miss, dictated the sentence. The "Canarinha" was eliminated with a final score of 4-2 in the penalty shootout. 

The last remaining match of the quarterfinals was the Netherlands - Argentina. This match was the hottest of all, with a tangana and a Messi with a character rarely seen before. The Argentine team took the lead; first with a goal by Nahuel Molina, the result of a masterful assist by the Argentine 10, and then with a goal from a penalty converted by Leo Messi himself. In the final minutes, the Netherlands used their physicality and height to close the gap, and Weghortz pulled one back from the top. Finally, Holland dramatically tied the match in the 110th minute after a rehearsed play. With the score at 2-2, we went to penalties, where Messi's team won 3-4, after the Argentine goalkeeper, "Dibu Martinez" saved the first two penalties.

After this fateful match, Argentina faced Croatia in the semifinals yesterday. Yesterday, accompanied by a brilliant Julian Alvarez (who scored 2 goals), the Argentine 10, Leo Messi, made history again. With a penalty goal and a wonderful driving to assist the 3rd goal to Julian, he led Argentina to the final, with a resounding 3-0 and a stellar performance. Luka Modri? received a standing ovation from the fans.

The second semifinal will be played today between France and Morocco, and can be followed on their respective national channels. Finally, Qatar will close its World Cup stage this Sunday with the final.

2. Corruption in the EU: Qatargate

And we continue with the Qatar World Cup, but this time we move away from the sports section to enter a very different one.

This Tuesday, the European Parliament has approved the dismissal of Eva Kaili from her position as vice-president of the Parliament. This fact occurs due to Eva's arrest last Friday; the Greek socialist party deputy was accused, along with her partner (lobbyist, former deputy and secretary general of the NGO "No peace without justice") of collecting bribes from Qatar, for an amount still unknown, but that is at least 750,000 euros, which would have already been seized.

The vote to remove her from office passed unanimously, with 625 votes in favor, one against and only two abstentions.

The EU has pointed out that this operation is the result of months of work by the Belgian police, and has pointed out that they have been collaborating closely with them for a few days now. Roberta Mentsola, president of the parliament pointed out that they would investigate this case to the last consequences, regardless of who falls for the process. At Monday's press conference, she said that "The European Parliament is under attack, European democracy is under attack, and so are our societies" and that "we will stand up to those who believe that Europe is for sale".

Regarding the judicial process, the judge has decided to keep under arrest both the Greek deputy and her husband, the lobbyist Niccolo Figa-Talamanca. For the time being, it seems that there are more socialist deputies involved in this bribery scheme.

3. The reform of the embezzlement offense goes ahead.

It seems that the PSOE and ERC are willing to reform the crime of embezzlement as soon as possible. Even with the criticisms from Junts and CUP, who put pressure on ERC which they describe as opportunistic, and the distrust of UP in the draft text, which points out how it could open the door to reductions in the sentencing of other corruption cases, and which irritates the PSOE, it seems that the 2 political forces are moving forward with the objective of reforming such a crime.

On Monday, after an express meeting between the two partners, and with some adjustments proposed by the PSOE, the text of the amendment was finalized and submitted on Tuesday to the government's Justice Committee for final ratification, already in tomorrow's plenary session.

The agreement reduces the maximum penalties from 8 to 4 years when the embezzlement offense does not involve profit or personal enrichment. The minimum sentence could be one year.

Surprisingly, UNO Podemos dissociated itself from the agreement, because they wanted to make a more in-depth review of the crime of embezzlement, alleging that there are doubts about the future application of the new crime by the judges. In response, the PSOE did not take a minute to point out that this reform "does not decriminalize any type of embezzlement" and "hardens the persecution of the corrupt and the punishment of the misuse of public money".

Controversies aside, the Moncloa has already begun to contact the different political forces in order to definitively approve this procedure on Thursday. In this sense, the PNV has already shown itself in favor of the amendment, and it seems that the alliances between the government and the nationalist parties of Euskadi and Catalonia will take place again.

4. International politics: Political crisis in Peru due to the impeachment of President Pedro Castillo.

Last Wednesday, Pedro Castillo, then president of the country, was arrested and removed from office due to his attempt to dissolve the congress to avoid an impeachment process. Impeachment he had lost. This attempt, described as a "self-coup", was quickly stopped, and the authorities imprisoned Castillo, who is now locked up in a prison in Lima, from where he wrote a letter calling his own vice-president, Dina Boluarte, who for the time being holds the office of the presidency, a "usurper".

The political situation in Peru was already tense before these events; let's remember that Castillo came to power after a close result in the last elections of 2021, in which two extremely polarized political proposals faced each other in the second round:on the one hand, Pedro Castillo, a rural trade unionist with a marked leftist profile, and on the other hand, Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the authoritarian and former president of Peru, Alberto Fujimori (today in jail for corruption and usurpation of functions, and considered by various international organizations as a human rights violator), an ultra-right-winger who plunged the country into terror in his fight against terrorism and who had a marked ultra-right-wing profile.

Furthermore, his first months in office were so hectic that in June of this same year Castillo left his own party, Peru Libre, to govern as an independent, a fact that demonstrated the fracture within his own party, and the beginning of the process to replace him.

These facts, added to great economic instability and strong social mobilizations resulting from the increase in fuel prices, have led the country to a situation of chaos, which seems far from being resolved.

Three days after the arrest, Castillo's supporters took to the streets, provoking serious riots, including roadblocks and airport closures, which have already left 4 dead. Boluarte, in turn, decreed a state of emergency.

In view of this situation, the UN delegation expressed its concern about the situation. For the time being, Boluarde has advanced new elections for 2024, but in the face of a growing situation of political and economic instability and social and even geographical polarization between the countryside and the city, it seems that the turbulent times in Peru are far from over.

5. Economy: Gas shortage could be a real problem for next year's winter

The President of the European Commission warned yesterday at a press conference that the lack of gas is not a problem in the short term (noting that reserves for this winter are at 90% of total capacity), but that this scenario may be uncertain for the future.

The beginning of the relaxation of China's anti-covid policies, and the opening of China on the international market could be the root of this problem. Until now, Russia was forced to continue selling its gas reserves to Europe due to the large surplus of its production; but if China becomes a potential customer, Putin could change his policy and have the Asian giant as a preferential customer.

This situation is more than palpable, since, if Russia's gas sales were not dependent on the European market, it could use the energy cuts as a political pressure measure. And with the tense scenario due to the open war with Ukraine, and the EU's position on this, the situation does not seem far-fetched.

Thus, Von Der Leyen suggested the adoption of some measures, including the import of liquefied gas with partners such as the United States and Qatar. Moreover, this scenario would push the move towards renewables: the EU plans to replace 12 billion cubic metric tons of gas with renewables next year, and within 2 years it expects to continue in this direction by replacing a further 7.5 billion.

Finally, in order to achieve this transition, the European Commission pointed out that more investment would be needed, proposing the creation of a "sovereign wealth fund" for energy transition projects and new renewable energies, in order to be at the forefront of the ecological transition, which would also provide a competitive advantage.

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