diff -urNp a/tools/xml2po/__init__.py b/tools/xml2po/__init__.py
--- a/tools/xml2po/__init__.py	2019-11-28 11:45:00.889048989 +0100
+++ b/tools/xml2po/__init__.py	2020-01-06 13:24:24.715787902 +0100
@@ -86,14 +86,14 @@ class MessageOutput:
                 self.messages.append(t)
                 if spacepreserve:
                     self.nowrap[t] = True
-                if t in self.linenos.keys():
+                if t in list(self.linenos.keys()):
                     self.linenos[t].append((self.filename, tag, lineno))
                 else:
                     self.linenos[t] = [ (self.filename, tag, lineno) ]
                 if (not self.do_translations) and comment and not t in self.comments:
                     self.comments[t] = comment
             else:
-                if t in self.linenos.keys():
+                if t in list(self.linenos.keys()):
                     self.linenos[t].append((self.filename, tag, lineno))
                 else:
                     self.linenos[t] = [ (self.filename, tag, lineno) ]
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ class XMLDocument(object):
         elif node.isText():
             if node.isBlankNode():
                 if self.app.options.get('expand_entities') or \
-                  (not (node.prev and not node.prev.isBlankNode() and node.next and not node.next.isBlankNode()) ):
+                  (not (node.prev and not node.prev.isBlankNode() and node.nextElementSibling() and not node.next.isBlankNode()) ):
                     #print >>sys.stderr, "BLANK"
                     node.setContent('')
             else:
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ class XMLDocument(object):
             tree = ctxt.doc()
             newnode = tree.getRootElement()
         except:
-            print >> sys.stderr, """Error while normalizing string as XML:\n"%s"\n""" % (text)
+            print("""Error while normalizing string as XML:\n"%s"\n""" % (text), file=sys.stderr)
             return text
 
         self.normalizeNode(newnode)
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ class XMLDocument(object):
                     if not self.expand_entities:
                         result += '&' + child.name + ';'
                     else:
-                        result += child.content.decode('utf-8')
+                        result += child.content
                 else:
                     result += self.myAttributeSerialize(child)
                 child = child.next
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ class XMLDocument(object):
                 pass
 
             content = '<%s>%s</%s>' % (starttag, text, endtag)
-            tmp = tmp + content.encode('utf-8')
+            tmp = tmp + content
 
             newnode = None
             try:
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ class XMLDocument(object):
                 pass
 
             if not newnode:
-                print >> sys.stderr, """Error while parsing translation as XML:\n"%s"\n""" % (text.encode('utf-8'))
+                print("""Error while parsing translation as XML:\n"%s"\n""" % (text), file=sys.stderr)
                 return
 
             newelem = newnode.getRootElement()
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ class XMLDocument(object):
                     copy = newelem.copyNodeList()
                     next = node.next
                     node.replaceNode(newelem.copyNodeList())
-                    node.next = next
+                    node.__next__ = next
 
             else:
                 # In practice, this happens with tags such as "<para>    </para>" (only whitespace in between)
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ class XMLDocument(object):
             translation = self.app.getTranslation(outtxt)  # unicode or None
             if translation is not None:
                 self.replaceAttributeContentsWithText(attr,
-                                                      translation.encode('utf-8'))
+                                                      translation)
         else:
             self.app.msg.outputMessage(outtxt, node.lineNo(),  "", spacepreserve=False,
                               tag = node.name + ":" + attr.name)
@@ -447,14 +447,14 @@ class XMLDocument(object):
             norm_outtxt = self.normalizeString(outtxt, self.app.isSpacePreserveNode(node))
             translation = self.app.getTranslation(norm_outtxt)
         else:
-            translation = outtxt.decode('utf-8')
+            translation = outtxt
 
         starttag = self.startTagForNode(node)
         endtag = self.endTagForNode(node)
 
         worth = self.worthOutputting(node)
         if not translation:
-            translation = outtxt.decode('utf-8')
+            translation = outtxt
             if worth and self.app.options.get('mark_untranslated'):
                 node.setLang('C')
 
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ class XMLDocument(object):
                 # repl[0] may contain translated attributes with
                 # non-ASCII chars, so implicit conversion to <str> may fail
                 replacement = '<%s>%s</%s>' % \
-                              (repl[0].decode('utf-8'), repl[3], repl[2])
+                              (repl[0], repl[3], repl[2])
                 translation = translation.replace('<placeholder-%d/>' % (i+1), replacement)
 
             if worth:
@@ -542,7 +542,7 @@ class Main(object):
         elif output == '-':
             self.out = sys.stdout
         else:
-            self.out = file(output, 'w')
+            self.out = open(output, 'w')
 
     def load_mode(self, modename):
         try:
@@ -565,7 +565,7 @@ class Main(object):
             try:
                 doc = XMLDocument(xmlfile, self)
             except Exception as e:
-                print >> sys.stderr, "Unable to parse XML file '%s': %s" % (xmlfile, str(e))
+                print("Unable to parse XML file '%s': %s" % (xmlfile, str(e)), file=sys.stderr)
                 sys.exit(1)
             self.current_mode.preProcessXml(doc.doc, self.msg)
             doc.generate_messages()
@@ -578,13 +578,13 @@ class Main(object):
         try:
             doc = XMLDocument(xmlfile, self)
         except Exception as e:
-            print >> sys.stderr, str(e)
+            print(str(e), file=sys.stderr)
             sys.exit(1)
 
         try:
             mfile = open(mofile, "rb")
         except:
-            print >> sys.stderr, "Can't open MO file '%s'." % (mofile)
+            print("Can't open MO file '%s'." % (mofile), file=sys.stderr)
         self.gt = gettext.GNUTranslations(mfile)
         self.gt.add_fallback(NoneTranslations())
         # Has preProcessXml use cases for merge?
@@ -607,7 +607,7 @@ class Main(object):
         try:
             doc = XMLDocument(xmlfile, self)
         except Exception as e:
-            print >> sys.stderr, str(e)
+            print(str(e), file=sys.stderr)
             sys.exit(1)
         doc.generate_messages()
 
@@ -615,7 +615,7 @@ class Main(object):
         try:
             doc = XMLDocument(origxml, self)
         except Exception as e:
-            print >> sys.stderr, str(e)
+            print(str(e), file=sys.stderr)
             sys.exit(1)
         doc.generate_messages()
         self.output_po()
@@ -646,11 +646,11 @@ class Main(object):
 
         text should be a string to look for.
         """
-        #print >>sys.stderr,"getTranslation('%s')" % (text.encode('utf-8'))
+        #print >>sys.stderr,"getTranslation('%s')" % (text)
         if not text or text.strip() == '':
             return text
         if self.gt:
-            res = self.gt.ugettext(text.decode('utf-8'))
+            res = self.gt.gettext(text)
             return res
 
         return text
diff -urNp a/tools/xml2po/modes/docbook.py b/tools/xml2po/modes/docbook.py
--- a/tools/xml2po/modes/docbook.py	2019-11-28 11:45:00.889048989 +0100
+++ b/tools/xml2po/modes/docbook.py	2020-01-06 13:10:18.324679751 +0100
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     from md5 import new as md5_new
 
-from basic import basicXmlMode
+from .basic import basicXmlMode
 
 class docbookXmlMode(basicXmlMode):
     """Class for special handling of DocBook document types.
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ class docbookXmlMode(basicXmlMode):
                     hash = self._md5_for_file(fullpath)
                 else:
                     hash = "THIS FILE DOESN'T EXIST"
-                    print >>sys.stderr, "Warning: image file '%s' not found." % fullpath
+                    print("Warning: image file '%s' not found." % fullpath, file=sys.stderr)
 
                 msg.outputMessage("@@image: '%s'; md5=%s" % (attr, hash), node.lineNo(),
                                   "When image changes, this message will be marked fuzzy or untranslated for you.\n"+
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ class docbookXmlMode(basicXmlMode):
                     else:
                         ai.addChild(copy)
                     if match.group(3):
-                        copy.newChild(None, "year", match.group(3).encode('utf-8'))
+                        copy.newChild(None, "year", match.group(3))
                     if match.group(1) and match.group(2):
                         holder = match.group(1)+"(%s)" % match.group(2)
                     elif match.group(1):
@@ -193,15 +193,15 @@ class docbookXmlMode(basicXmlMode):
                         holder = match.group(2)
                     else:
                         holder = "???"
-                    copy.newChild(None, "holder", holder.encode('utf-8'))
+                    copy.newChild(None, "holder", holder)
 
 # Perform some tests when ran standalone
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     test = docbookXmlMode()
-    print "Ignored tags       : " + repr(test.getIgnoredTags())
-    print "Final tags         : " + repr(test.getFinalTags())
-    print "Space-preserve tags: " + repr(test.getSpacePreserveTags())
+    print("Ignored tags       : " + repr(test.getIgnoredTags()))
+    print("Final tags         : " + repr(test.getFinalTags()))
+    print("Space-preserve tags: " + repr(test.getSpacePreserveTags()))
 
-    print "Credits from string: '%s'" % test.getStringForTranslators()
-    print "Explanation for credits:\n\t'%s'" % test.getCommentForTranslators()
+    print("Credits from string: '%s'" % test.getStringForTranslators())
+    print("Explanation for credits:\n\t'%s'" % test.getCommentForTranslators())
 
diff -urNp a/tools/xml2po/modes/gimphelp.py b/tools/xml2po/modes/gimphelp.py
--- a/tools/xml2po/modes/gimphelp.py	2019-11-28 11:45:00.889048989 +0100
+++ b/tools/xml2po/modes/gimphelp.py	2020-01-06 11:59:17.387855373 +0100
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     from md5 import new as md5_new
 
-from docbook import docbookXmlMode
+from .docbook import docbookXmlMode
 
 class gimphelpXmlMode(docbookXmlMode):
     """Class for special handling of gimp-help DocBook document types.
@@ -91,10 +91,10 @@ class gimphelpXmlMode(docbookXmlMode):
 # Perform some tests when ran standalone
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     test = gimphelpXmlMode()
-    print "Ignored tags       : " + repr(test.getIgnoredTags())
-    print "Final tags         : " + repr(test.getFinalTags())
-    print "Space-preserve tags: " + repr(test.getSpacePreserveTags())
+    print("Ignored tags       : " + repr(test.getIgnoredTags()))
+    print("Final tags         : " + repr(test.getFinalTags()))
+    print("Space-preserve tags: " + repr(test.getSpacePreserveTags()))
 
-    print "Credits from string: '%s'" % test.getStringForTranslators()
-    print "Explanation for credits:\n\t'%s'" % test.getCommentForTranslators()
+    print("Credits from string: '%s'" % test.getStringForTranslators())
+    print("Explanation for credits:\n\t'%s'" % test.getCommentForTranslators())
 
diff -urNp a/tools/xml2po.py b/tools/xml2po.py
--- a/tools/xml2po.py	2019-11-28 11:45:00.889048989 +0100
+++ b/tools/xml2po.py	2020-01-06 11:59:17.387855373 +0100
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python2
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 # -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-
 # Copyright (c) 2004, 2005, 2006 Danilo Šegan <danilo@gnome.org>.
 # Copyright (c) 2009 Claude Paroz <claude@2xlibre.net>.
@@ -41,9 +41,9 @@ NULL_STRING = '/dev/null'
 if not os.path.exists('/dev/null'): NULL_STRING = 'NUL'
 
 def usage (with_help = False):
-    print >> sys.stderr, "Usage:  %s [OPTIONS] [XMLFILE]..." % (sys.argv[0])
+    print("Usage:  %s [OPTIONS] [XMLFILE]..." % (sys.argv[0]), file=sys.stderr)
     if with_help:
-        print >> sys.stderr, """
+        print("""
 OPTIONS may be some of:
     -a    --automatic-tags     Automatically decides if tags are to be considered
                                  "final" or not
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ EXAMPLES:
     using -p option for each XML file:
         %(command)s -p de.po chapter1.xml > chapter1.de.xml
         %(command)s -p de.po chapter2.xml > chapter2.de.xml
-""" % {'command': sys.argv[0]}
+""" % {'command': sys.argv[0]}, file=sys.stderr)
 
 
 def main(argv):
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ def main(argv):
             sys.exit(0)
 
     if operation == 'update' and output != "-":
-        print >> sys.stderr, "Option '-o' is not yet supported when updating translations directly. Ignoring this option."
+        print("Option '-o' is not yet supported when updating translations directly. Ignoring this option.", file=sys.stderr)
 
     # Treat remaining arguments as XML files
     filenames = []
@@ -158,16 +158,16 @@ def main(argv):
     try:
         xml2po_main = Main(default_mode, operation, output, options)
     except IOError:
-        print >> sys.stderr, "Error: cannot open file %s for writing." % (output)
+        print("Error: cannot open file %s for writing." % (output), file=sys.stderr)
         sys.exit(5)
 
     if operation == 'merge':
         if len(filenames) > 1:
-            print  >> sys.stderr, "Error: You can merge translations with only one XML file at a time."
+            print("Error: You can merge translations with only one XML file at a time.", file=sys.stderr)
             sys.exit(2)
 
         if not mofile:
-            print >> sys.stderr, "Error: You must specify MO file when merging translations."
+            print("Error: You must specify MO file when merging translations.", file=sys.stderr)
             sys.exit(3)
 
         xml2po_main.merge(mofile, filenames[0])