Two weeks before Germany's Bundestag elections take place, the chancellor candidate of the ruling SPD, Olaf Scholz, and the CDU/CSU candidate Friedrich Merz have faced off in a prime-time TV debate. There were no fierce verbal attacks but the audience share was high at more than 40 percent. Commentators' assessments of the debate vary widely.

US President Donald Trump stated in an interview that he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine. The time of the phone call between the two leaders remained unclear. The Kremlin would neither confirm nor deny that it took place. Commentators examine the situation and express both scepticism and cautious hope.

Klaus Iohannis was supposed to have stepped down in December, but the annulment of the 2024 presidential election led to an extension of his time in office. Wrongly so, according to Romania's far-right parties, who have called for his impeachment on the grounds that the maximum ten-year term has been exceeded. The liberal USR party backed the motion and now Iohannis has announced his resignation to forestall a parliamentary vote on his impeachment. The move elicits a mixed response from the press.

In Kosovo, the current ruling party has emerged as the winner of the parliamentary elections with just under 42 percent of the vote but has lost its absolute majority, meaning that the left-wing nationalist prime minister Albin Kurti will likely need coalition partners. Two conservative parties each secured around 20 percent of the vote. Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, is seeking EU membership.

In appointing billionaire Elon Musk head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, Donald Trump has entrusted him with streamlining the US government. Musk's team has gained access to confidential data on US citizens and reportedly already fired more than 40,000 public servants. The goal is to reduce government spending by two trillion dollars and end the alleged waste of funds on projects such as gender equality.

Swiss voters have clearly rejected a massive green overhaul of the economy in a referendum held on the weekend. Around 70 percent of those who took part voted against the initiative, according to which Switzerland's economic activities would be adapted within the next ten years so that only as many resources are consumed and pollutants released as nature's limits allow.