Christmas is still more than a week away but Spanish parents working for the EU in Brussels are already furious about next year’s school holidays. They’re angry because the European school system is planning to change its Christmas holiday dates for 2026-27, meaning children would have to go to class on Jan. 6, one of the biggest holidays of the year, when the Three Magic Kings (Reyes Magos) bring gifts. The European Schools have told parents that the holidays will run from Dec. 18, 2026 to Jan. 4, 2027, meaning children will be at school on Jan. 6. The parents want the holidays to run from Dec. 23 to Jan. 6 inclusive. But those calls have been in vain. The secretariat general that manages the European School system “has minimized the impact of the conflict, pointing out that the holiday could be addressed in the classroom as cultural content,” according to a note circulated among parents.  The secretariat general of the European Schools did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. “These celebrations form part of our cultural and educational identity, and eliminating them sends a message of disconnection from deeply ingrained traditions with undeniable emotional value for families,” said a parent, who asked to be identified only by the initials A.J.C.  “This decision has a direct and very negative impact on work-life balance, as it drastically reduces the actual time our children, as expatriate families, can spend in Spain, Italy or Portugal with their grandparents and relatives. It unjustifiably limits one of the few periods of the year when it is possible to strengthen these essential family bonds.” Spanish parents have sent a letter to the country’s permanent representation to the EU asking for help, and gathered signatures from MEPs this week to send a letter to Piotr Serafin, the European commissioner for budget and public administration. The letter, seen by POLITICO and bearing 38 signatures, asks Serafin to officially recognize “the special relevance of Three Kings Day for Spanish families” and to “adopt a solution consistent with the founding principles of cultural diversity and mutual respect between Member States.”

PARIS ― European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday slammed U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign against American higher education as she unveiled a half-billion-euro plan to attract foreign researchers. “The role of science in today’s world is questioned. The investment in fundamental, free and open research is questioned. What a gigantic miscalculation,” von der Leyen said. “Science has no passport, no gender, no ethnicity or political party.” Appearing alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at Paris’ storied Sorbonne University on Monday, von der Leyen said the “Choose Europe for Science” initiative would put forward a €500 million program from 2025 to 2027 to attract foreign researchers to “help support the best and the brightest researchers and scientists from Europe and around the world. “ Several speakers at the event hit out at Trump’s efforts to gut federal research funding and threats to cut funding to universities like Harvard to the tune of billions of dollars over conservative criticisms of higher education and allegations of antisemitism on campuses. Both French Minister of Higher Education Philippe Baptiste and Robert Proctor, a prominent professor of the history of science at Stanford, called what’s happening across the Atlantic a “reverse enlightenment.”  The head of the European executive did not name-check American researchers or Trump, but her targets were clear. She even framed her speech around the story of Marie Curie — the groundbreaking, Nobel Prize-winning scientist who fled Russian-occupied Poland for France.  Von der Leyen also announced she would put forward a “European Innovation Act” and a “Startup and Scaleup Strategy” to cut red tape and boost access to venture capital to help turn innovative science into business opportunities. She added that she wants EU countries to spend 3 percent of their gross domestic product on research by 2030.

Students in German schools should undergo crisis training, senior conservative lawmaker Roderich Kiesewetter said Monday, as the specter of war haunts Europe. “It is absolutely necessary to practice emergency scenarios, as students are particularly vulnerable and especially affected in such situations,” Kiesewetter, who is the deputy chair of the Bundestag’s intelligence oversight committee, told German business newspaper Handelsblatt. “There should also be basic training on how to behave in disaster situations. This would also be wise and forward-thinking with regard to a possible national service,” he said, adding that this type of training already exists in Finland. The remarks from Kiesewetter, who hails from the center-right Christian Democratic Union that is preparing to take power in Berlin, come shortly after the European Commission unveiled its own preparedness strategy for citizens as Russia menaces the continent and maintains a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The German interior ministry also called for stronger civil defense education in schools, noting that while educational content is the responsibility of federal states, the national government is prepared to offer support with materials for young people. “In view of recent developments in the security situation, a stronger focus should be placed on civil protection, including in school education,” a ministry spokesperson told Handelsblatt.