Energy: EU reveals its recipes to counter soaring prices

How do you cushion the social impact of soaring energy prices? On Wednesday, Brussels is unveiling an arsenal of temporary measures from which the Twenty-Seven will be able to draw, and ideas for reform, but refuses to sacrifice its environmental ambitions. While gas prices have soared to historic highs, driving electricity prices and threatening to derail economic recovery, the European Commission's “toolbox” will propose recipes to ease consumers' bills. Brussels will encourage states to lower heavy taxes on energy and to redistribute the benefits of higher prices to the poorest, said Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market on Monday. In addition to the decisions already adopted by several governments (tax cuts, energy vouchers, targeted aid to the poorest), the Commission will give “the possibility of also lowering VAT”, he said. It should also present more ambitious reform proposals, examined at the European summit on 21-22 October

Secret of confession: priests must report pedocrime

Gérald Darmanin said that priests who are aware of “crimes” against “children under 15 years of age” should “bring” these facts of pedocrime “to justice” and not oppose the secrecy of confession. The Minister of the Interior was speaking at the National Assembly just after receiving the president of the French Bishops' Conference, Mgr Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, who had deemed the secret of the confession “stronger than the laws of the Republic” and therefore could not be broken. “The secret of confession has been in our law for almost 200 years, known as professional secrecy, in the same way as doctors or lawyers. However, it has exceptions, in particular with regard to crimes committed against children under 15 years of age, and it is obvious that there can be no punishment against any religious person or any person who is aware of facts of sexual abuse against children and that they must bring it to the courts of our country for the protection of children,” said the Minister of the Interior.

AT A GLANCE

A Blue Origin rocket will take off for a few minutes in space on Wednesday, with an iconic passenger of the conquest of space: William Shatner, who played the legendary Captain Kirk in the Star Trek series.

Paris has 6,000 fewer students in elementary school and kindergarten this year than in 2020. This decrease of 5% - from 119,000 to 113,000 students - is two to three times greater than