The right-wing populist Reform UK party made significant gains and secured key county councils in local elections in the UK on 1 May. National polls show Nigel Farage's party riding high in the polls. If general elections - currently scheduled for 2029 - were held now, Reform UK would be the strongest force in the country, ahead of the two main parties Labour and the Conservatives.

The far-right candidate of the AUR party, George Simion, has won the first round of the rerun of the presidential election in Romania. In the run-off on 18 May he will now go up against the non-affiliated mayor of Bucharest Nicușor Dan. The country's Social Democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu resigned after his governing coalition's candidate, Crin Antonescu, came in third.

This week the whole of Europe commemorates the end of the Second World War and liberation from National Socialism. Russia will celebrate the victory over Hitler's Germany with its usual massive military parade on 9 May. The Kremlin's efforts to place its current war of aggression in Ukraine in this historical context meet with opposition in the European press.

Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as "confirmed right-wing extremist" due to the party's disregard for human dignity and mounting indications of efforts to subvert the free democratic order. Europe's press debates what actions the ruling could and should prompt.

The social democratic Labor Party has won a landslide victory in Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese can now continue to govern with an absolute majority after securing more than 80 seats in the country's 150-seat House of Representatives. The conservative National-Liberal Coalition won just under 40 seats. Commentators discuss the causes and the Trump effect.

Following tough negotiations, Ukraine and the US have signed a natural resources deal. Hailed by both sides as a "historic" agreement, it provides for the creation of a joint investment fund which will initially generate funds for the country's reconstruction. The media assess the deal primarily in terms of its potential to boost Ukraine's security and sovereignty.