(© picture-alliance/dpa)

  Rise of the right

  4 Debates

According to a report by the Politico news website, Hungary is planning to forge an anti-Ukrainian bloc in the European Union with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The new Czech government has also said it wants to revitalise the cooperation between the four Visegrád states - although Poland has so far shown no interest in such plans. Could this be the birth of a pro-Russian lobby in the EU?

The town of Torre-Pacheco in southern Spain has been the scene of rioting and racist violence over the last few days. The unrest erupted after a pensioner was reportedly attacked by young people with a migrant background and right-wing extremists launched a "hunt for migrants" in the town where many agricultural workers from Morocco live. The police sent in reinforcements and ten people were arrested.

The four-party coalition government in The Hague has collapsed. Geert Wilders' right-wing populist PVV had presented plans for a significant tightening of the asylum laws last week and made the party's continued participation conditional on their acceptance, but the three other coalition partners rejected the ultimatum. After a crisis meeting on Tuesday, the PVV recalled its ministers and Prime Minister Dick Schoof resigned. Europe's press takes stock and looks ahead.

In the Romanian presidential run-off vote on Sunday, Nicușor Dan, a pro-European independent candidate and mayor of Bucharest, is pitted against George Simion from the ultra-right AUR party. Simion scored a clear victory in the first round of the election, securing 41 percent of the vote compared to Dan's 21 percent. Tensions are running high in the commentary sections.