… and on that note, it’s a wrap from me, Jakub Krupa.

Here are the three things to take away from today’s blog:

• After a tumultous sitting, the German parliament has rejected a draft bill to tighten immigration controls in response to recent knife attacks in the country (17:14, 17:15, 17:25). The highly-controversial proposal, put forward by the CDU/CSU opposition party which leads in the polls, failed to secure a majority in the Bundestag, despite the backing of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.

• A group of French lawmakers reached a provisional agreement on an amended text of the budget, which is expected to be put to vote in the parliament on Monday. Embattled prime minister François Bayrou is likely to have a busy weekend as he needs to secure as much support as he can to avoid having to trigger the controversial article 49.3, which could prompt opposition parties to call for another vote of no confidence (17:00).

• Hundreds of striking Serbian students are continuing their arduous march from Belgrade to the northern city of Novi Sad, as they plan to block three bridges over the Danube this weekend in their continuing protest against the alleged corruption of state institutions. Saturday will mark three months since a huge concrete construction at the railway station in Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, leaving 15 people dead and prompting the wide-spread protests (13:36).

And I leave you with the news about growing anger in Romania after a daring heist from the Drents Museum in the Netherlands, with the near-2,500-year-old gold Helmet of Coțofenești – one of Romania’s most revered national treasures – among the stolen items.

And so, that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.

Have a great weekend and see you again on Monday.

If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.

I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

In a blistering statement after the vote, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel directly attacks Merz for failing to get his lawmakers to back the proposal, saying it undermines his credentials to be the next chancellor of Germany.

She stressed that no AfD lawmakers voted against the proposal.

She uses the results to repeat her claim that only the AfD is capable of delivering a radical change in migration policy.

Speaking at a press conference after the vote, Merz says he respects the will of some of his lawmakers who did not support the proposal, even if it directly contributed to the defeat.

He turns to the future, and says that the issue of how to respond to irregular migration will now fall to the next Bundestag as he repeats he will campaign on the proposals in both the motion adopted on Wednesday and the bill that failed today.

In a direct call to the electorate, he says that while he would have wanted a different result today, this outcome also offers clarity on where his party stands opposed to Olaf Scholz’s SPD and the Greens and he intends to make that point on the campaign trail.

Greece following the German vote closely

Helena Smith

in Athens

The Bundestag debate was being followed closely in Greece, an EU frontier country that has seen migration flows jump considerably with refugee arrivals on Crete and the adjacent isle of Gavdos increasing six-fold last year to the astonishment of locals.

As Europe’s southernmost point, Gavdos in particular has become the focal destination for would-be asylum seekers setting off from the port city of Tobruk in Libya. Boats are frequently crammed with unaccompanied minors.

Greece’s centre-right government has applied what it has called a “tough but fair” migration management policy. But for migrant solidarity workers, the measures, including containing refugees in closed controlled access centres (CCAC) on Aegean isles, have been unduly harsh – a reflection, say NGOs, not only of political sentiment across the continent but of the unspoken desire to deter would-be asylum seekers from making similar journeys.

This week, the Human Rights Legal Project (HRLP), described conditions in the safe zone area of Samos island’s CCAC’s – the zone where unaccompanied minors reside – as “horrific.”

“The area, which was originally designed to accommodate 200 children, is now hosting 485 unaccompanied minors, many of whom lack shoes and adequate clothing,” it said.

Shortages not only included beds and lack of access to education and health services but basic products such as soap and toothpaste.

Refugee Support Aegean, another NGO, also deplored the “inadequate presence of organisations and authorities” to deal with the upsurge in flows to the country. The lack of preparedness, had it said, resulted in ever growing numbers of newly arrived refugees being compelled to stay in “unsuitable facilities without basic necessities” in Gavdos and Crete.

Jakub Krupa

Ooh, this is an interesting one.

As Der Spiegel notes, the parties that technically declared their support for the bill would have the majority if all their members voted for it. But clearly, some did not (or didn’t turn up to vote.)

There will also be some questions about Friedrich Merz’s insistence to force this proposal to a vote.

Given his key argument hinged on the suggestion that this needs to be passed because that is what the electorate wants, there will surely be questions about how it ended up in failure – despite the AfD’s backing!

338 in favour
350 against
5 abstentions

Just a reminder on what is going on if you’ve only just joined us on Europe Live:

The German parliament has just closed the vote on a draft law suggesting tightening of the country’s immigration rules, with changes to family reunification rules and stronger powers to the federal police.

The motion, put forward by the main opposition party CDU/CSU, is highly controversial as it could be passed with the votes of the Alternative für Deutschland, breaking the historical firewall against any sort of political cooperation with far-right parties.

The sitting broke for a few hours earlier today as the main parties sought to strike a last-minute agreement that would allow them to avoid the vote, but the crisis talks ultimately failed – and this is why we are here.

We are now waiting for the results and they should come very soon.

French budgetary breakthrough – analysis

Jon Henley

in Paris

Monday could be an interesting day in the Assemblée nationale in Paris with the French parliament set to vote on the 2025 budget after a commission of seven deputies and seven senators reached agreement on an amended text earlier this afternoon (see 13.14 CET).

The opposition Socialist party (PS) – whose support prime minister François Bayrou has been courting and which his minority government aims to peel away from the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance, dominated by the radical left Unbowed France (LFI) – claimed a number of minor victories.

But it did not by any means get all it wanted and the text of the belt-tightening budget remains similar in essence to the one proposed by the former prime minister Michel Barnier, whose government fell in December after the far right National Rally (RN) joined forces with the NFP in a vote of no confidence.

Analysts therefore expect the PS to vote against the budget on Monday, along with the other opposition parties: the RN, LFI, the Communists and the Greens. If the 66 Socialist deputies do vote against it, the bill will not pass.

Bayrou will spend the weekend trying to win over as much support as he can, but if he considers the risk of the budget being voted down is too great he may be tempted to make use of the controversial constitutional tool known as article 49.3.

This allows a government to push certain kind of legislation through parliament without a vote – but also allows MPs the chance to challenge that decision by submitting a no-confidence motion that is generally voted on 48 hours later.

It was just such a motion that saw off Barnier’s government at the end of last year, and France’s parliamentary arithmetic has not changed: the pro-Macron, centrist alliance plus the centre-right bloc can muster only 211 votes in the 577-seat house.

The Socialists have not said how they would vote on a no-confidence motion, which would almost certainly be submitted by LFI, and they – and, perhaps, the RN – may decide the stakes are now too high to bring down another government so early.

But it would take fewer than half of PS deputies to join LFI, the RN and the rest of the opposition in voting in favour of a censure motion for Bayrou’s government to suffer the same fate as his predecessor’s – as early as next Wednesday.

Watch this space.

Jakub Krupa

As we await the result of the vote in Germany, let’s take a super quick look at the situation in France again…

Back to the Bundestag where a late attempt to refer the draft law back to the committee was rejected.

The parliament is now voting on the second reading of the draft law, with results expected by 16:50 CET.

Who will vote in favour? Will anyone abstain? Remember, the Wednesday vote was passed by just three votes.

And a quick update on Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, who caused quite an uproar with her comments last night, insisting that a probe into her role in the release of a Libyan war crime suspect was politically motivated.

We covered the context yesterday (here).

But Meloni insisted last night that passing the probe by a Rome prosecutor to a special court that considers cases against ministers was “clearly a deliberate act. Everyone knows that the prosecutors of these things have their discretion,” AFP says.

More broadly, she said the actions of “politicised magistrates” were “not normal”, adding: “Some judges, fortunately few… want to govern.”

She said the prosecutor involved had previously brought a case against her deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, and added: “I cannot be blackmailed, I will not be intimidated.”

Italy’s National Association of Magistrates (ANM) said there had been a “total misunderstanding” of the role of the prosecutor, who it said was obliged by law to pass complaints against ministers to the court, without investigating them.

The special court of ministers will now assess the complaint against Meloni and the others, but would need parliament’s approval to proceed.

Jakub Krupa

Reminder: this draft law, if passed, would still have to go to the upper chamber, and wouldn’t get passed before the election on 23 February.

But emotions are flying high because of what’s at stake: both electorally, but also in terms of “the firewall” principle.

Merz starts distancing himself from the AfD, as he says they are largely “a radical-right extremist party” which seeks to undermine democracy.

But in response to demands from the SPD, he refuses to apologise for passing the first migration motion on Wednesday with the AfD’s votes, even as he directly warns against the risks the party poses.

He insists that it is necessary to act after the recent knife attacks, and refuses to back down.

He presents the draft law outlining its three key elements: reducing immigration, suspending family reunification rights for asylum seekers, and expanding powers of the country’s police.

Mützenich ends his speech with a passionate plea to “close the gates of hell together,” not give up the “firewall” against the far right, and not allow for the draft law to be carried by the votes of the Alternative für Deutschland.

CDU/CSU’s Merz, the frontrunner to win next month’s election, is speaking next.