Bulgaria is on track to join the Eurozone on 1 January 2026. On 4 June the EU Commission is expected to publish a positive convergence report confirming that Bulgaria has met all the accession criteria and giving it the green light. Now, however, President Rumen Radev has applied the brakes and called for a referendum that could stop the introduction of the single currency. The national press objects.
The Catholic Church has a new pope, Leo XIV, after the conclave elected Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost, a cardinal with US and Peruvian citizenship, on the second day of voting yesterday. In his first address, Leo emphasised the importance of world peace. Commentators discuss his qualifications as leader of the Church - and to what extent an American in the Holy See can act as a counterweight to Donald Trump.
Russia is celebrating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany with a large military parade today. State guests from around 30 countries including Belarus, China, Slovakia and Brazil are attending. Commentators examine the symbolism of the ostentatious celebrations as the country wages war against Ukraine, as well as the motives of those attending.
The UK and the US have agreed on a trade pact that reduces tariffs between the two countries. According to UK sources, tariffs on car imports to the US are to be lowered, those on steel and aluminium abolished entirely and import duties on US goods cut. Prior to signing this deal, the UK had finalised a free-trade agreement with India this week. Europe's press is divided in its assessment of the plans.
The Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950 is widely regarded as the birth of today's EU: then French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposed the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), whose six founding states were initially to pool their production. Europe Day 2025 is a thought-provoking 75th anniversary, as a look at the commentary sections shows.