After Ukraine announced that it had repaired the Druzhba pipeline, Hungary has lifted its months-long blockade of a 90-billion-euro loan for Kyiv. Ousted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán supported the EU decision. Brussels also gave the green light for a new sanctions package against Russia. Commentators examine motives and connections.
Just hours before his ultimatum expired, US President Donald Trump extended the ceasefire with Iran for an indefinite period. At Pakistan's request, Trump said that there would be no more attacks until the "seriously fractured" government in Tehran had put forward a "unified proposal" and talks had been concluded. Iran did not attend a round of talks announced by Washington.
The Estonian government is resisting the EU Pay Transparency Directive adopted in 2023, saying it does not want the bureaucratic burden. The directive aims to reduce the gender pay gap. Member states were given until June this year to implement it, with businesses required to ensure transparency and introduce measures to pay men and women equally.
Several members of the management team at the Russian publishing group Eksmo were arrested in Moscow on Tuesday. They are accused of 'extremist behaviour' and of 'disseminating LGBT literature among minors'. Since May 2025, a court case has been underway against three of the publisher's employees who are charged with disseminating youth literature featuring homosexual content.
Since 2021 Hungary has had a law – typical of the Orbán era – prohibiting access to information on homosexuality, trans identity and gender reassignment for the under-18s. The European Court of Justice has now ruled that the law is discriminatory, and that it violates European fundamental rights as well as contradicting the EU's core values.
Former President Rumen Radev's centre-left coalition Progressive Bulgaria won a clear victory in the parliamentary elections, securing around 45 percent of the vote. Radev has affirmed that Bulgaria will continue its European path, but that a strong Europe needs critical thinking and pragmatism. Commentators ask what the election result means for European cohesion.
A proposed change to the curriculum has sparked controversy in Portugal. The country's only Nobel laureate, José Saramago, may lose compulsory reading status in secondary schools. Saramago, who was an avowed communist until his death in 2010, left the country in the 1990s following a row with the Conservatives. Against this backdrop, the proposal by the Conservatives, who are now in power again, has fuelled a heated debate.
More revelations in the Mandelson scandal are upping the pressure on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Mandelson was given the post of ambassador to the US despite failing security vetting. In the House of Commons, Starmer apologised for the appointment but said that at the time of the decision he had not been fully informed.
Romania's four-party ruling coalition is on the brink of collapse: On Monday, the Social Democrats (PSD), the largest party in the government, withdrew their support for the liberal prime minister Ilie Bolojan over proposed reforms and austerity measures, calling on him to resign and threatening to withdraw the PSD ministers from the cabinet if he refused. Bolojan, however, said he has no intention of stepping down and accused the PSD of trying to shirk its responsibilities.
Russian troops have been unable to make any significant advances in recent months. Military experts attribute this mainly to the dominance of Ukrainian drones – not only in the airspace directly above the front line, but also behind it on the aggressor's side. Ukrainian attacks on industrial and energy facilities deep within Russia are also intensifying. Commentators see the tide turning in the war.
Left-wing politicians from across the globe gathered at a meeting in Barcelona at the weekend to pledge their joint commitment to the defence of democracy. Under the banner of Global Progressive Mobilisation (GPM), the heads of state and government and ministers of dozens of countries travelled to the event at the invitation of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Trump faced accusations of fickleness and a lack of tact right at the start of his second term in office. Now the US president is making headlines with his alarming rhetoric and AI-generated images. In its discussion of his foreign policy – from the Iran war to Nato, to the elections in Hungary and even the feud with Pope Leo XIV – the media sees indications that Trumpism is in decline.