Scotland’s leader said Monday that she will renew her push for independence from the United Kingdom next year, with the aim of holding a referendum on secession in 2023, the Associated Press reported. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the independence campaign, stalled by the pandemic, “will resume in earnest” in spring 2022, “COVID permitting.” “In the course of next year, I will initiate the process necessary to enable a referendum before the end of 2023,” Sturgeon told a conference of her Scottish National Party.

Inflation soared to a record high in Europe in November as a continued upward climb in energy costs pushed prices skyward, data showed on Tuesday, the New York Times reported. Annual inflation in the eurozone surged to 4.9 percent, the European statistics agency Eurostat reported, the highest since records began in 1997. Excluding volatile energy and food prices, inflation jumped by 2.6 percent from a year earlier, the highest in two decades.

Germany's incoming Finance Minister Christian Lindner on Tuesday vowed to champion solid public finances and a reduction of debt levels across the euro zone so that the European Central Bank (ECB) could fight inflation without hesitation if needed, Reuters reported. Lindner's comments, posted on Twitter, came after data showed on Monday that German consumer price inflation accelerated further in November to reach its highest level in nearly three decades. "The inflation gives rise to legitimate concerns.

Poland said Tuesday that consumer prices have risen 7.7% over the past year, evidence that inflation is accelerating even faster than had been expected in the largest central European economy in the European Union, the Associated Press reported. The November number is the highest inflation rate in 20 years and marks a larger jump than what economists had predicted. Last month, it hit 6.8% annually, according to the statistics office.

British subprime lender Amigo said on Monday it expects court proceedings over its new rescue plan to take at least four months once submitted, and laid out plans for an equity raise to support the business, dragging its shares nearly 30% lower, Reuters reported. Amigo had flagged a potential equity raise in August after London's High Court rejected its older rescue plan that would have cut compensation payouts to customers who complained about Amigo mis-selling loans to them.

Two more energy suppliers in the U.K. have failed, taking the total to 23 companies that have collapsed since the start of August in the biggest shake out of the country’s retail power and gas market, Bloomberg News reported. Entice Energy, with 5,400 customers, and Orbit Energy, which served 65,000 households, announced they are ceasing to trade, according to regulator Ofgem. The watchdog will help find a new firm to take over the accounts. The U.K. energy market is in chaos. The government insists that the tools they have are working to manage the disruption caused by so many bankruptcies.

The liquidators of the Irish arm of failed German electronic payments group Wirecard are focusing their investigation into an almost €400 million fraud on four key areas, its creditors have been told, the Irish Times reported. In a report issued last week to creditors of Wirecard UK and Ireland Ltd, the joint liquidators, Ken Fennell and James Anderson of accountancy firm Deloitte, said they have completed two interim reports for the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) on the Dublin-based company’s collapse.

Britain is open to legislating to stop an explosion in scam adverts online being a significant source of fraud, financial services minister John Glen has told lawmakers, Reuters reported. Victims' groups and campaigners have called for fraudulent adverts to be incorporated in the government's planned Online Safety Bill, which currently only covers user-generated content. "We are very sympathetic to that," Glen told the Treasury Select Committee. "This is a massive problem.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said that the euro zone is better equipped to face the economic impact of a new wave of COVID-19 infections or the Omicron variant, Reuters reported. Several European countries have introduced restrictive measures due to a new increase in COVID-19 infections. The new coronavirus variant Omicron was detected in South Africa on Friday and has spread rapidly across Europe. "There is an obvious concern about the economic recovery [of the euro zone] in 2022, but I believe we have learnt a lot. We now know our enemy and what measures to take.

Europe’s already fragile economic recovery is at risk of being undermined by a fourth wave of coronavirus infections now dousing the continent, as governments impose increasingly stringent health restrictions that could reduce foot traffic in shopping centers, discourage travel and thin crowds in restaurants, bars and ski resorts, the New York Times reported. Austria has imposed the strictest measures, mandating vaccinations and imposing a nationwide lockdown that began on Monday.