Caroline Lucas will hand over top job as part of strategy to boost her colleagues' profiles

To Abjol Miah, the intense battle on polling day in the "politically hyperactive" Tower Hamlets area of east London is the sign of a healthy democracy. "Everyone wants to come out and vote. There is competition but people want ownership of the area's governance," he said.

The Government's NewBuy scheme is not the answer to our dysfunctional housing system and is just going to keep house prices artificially high, leaving people stuck with 95 per cent mortgages they can't afford. Should interest rates go up, buyers will be in even worse trouble.

Germany's government and the two major opposition parties said last night that they would jointly nominate former East German human rights activist Joachim Gauck to be the country's next president.

One hundred leading figures are today urging the Government to tackle the predatory behaviour of big energy companies by introducing a new levy on their profits.

It is estimated that more than five million people in the UK are facing fuel poverty. Average annual household bills for gas and electricity exceed £1,200, and uSwitch has predicted that by 2020 this could rise to £3,202. Yet energy companies' profit margins go up and up. Ofgem warned last October that profits on dual fuel deals had risen from £15 per household to £125 – a rise of 733 per cent.

Big Six suppliers heading for bumper profits and bonuses as more than 5.5 million UK homes hit by fuel poverty

The French authorities have been left red-faced after Greenpeace activists yesterday morning managed to infiltrate three nuclear power stations across the country.

Belgium hit a new milestone today — 450 days without a government — but still no one appears to be in any big hurry to resolve the situation.

New plans for designating green spaces could mean communities lose out on being able to protect local areas they cherish, the UK's oldest conservation organisation has warned.

John Lichfield reports from Brittany, where a spate of animal deaths has heralded an ecological calamity 40 years in the making

Eva Joly is about to complete one of the most extraordinary CVs in world politics. At the age of 18, she was a Norwegian beauty queen. At 20, she was an au pair in France. At 37, she was a feared French investigative magistrate.

If you ask me...

The no-frills route to Frankfurt is also a gateway to the Mosel river, says Andrew Eames. But this 'dreamier version of the Rhine' is under threat, so enjoy this treasure while you still can