At their summit in Brussels, the EU member states have decided to "urgently" revise current legislation to speed up deportations of migrants whose asylum claims have been rejected. "New ways" to combat irregular migration are also to be considered. The setting up of asylum centres in third countries like those operated by Italy in Albania was also discussed. Europe's press takes stock.

Serbia has been an EU accession candidate since 2012. Now Croatian MEP Tonino Picula has been appointed as the permanent rapporteur of the European Parliament for Serbia. However the member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats is unpopular in Serbia owing to his stance on Balkan issues. Does this make him unsuitable for the post?

The British House of Commons is debating a bill that would facilitate assisted dying. Under the draft law, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live who express the wish to die would be able to receive medical assistance once this has been confirmed by two doctors and a court. The parliamentary groups did not instruct MPs on how to vote, but Keir Starmer's Labour government supports the initiative. A similar bill was rejected by Parliament in 2015.

The citizens of the Republic of Moldova have voted by a knife-edge majority of 50.4 percent in favour of writing EU accession into the constitution as an irrevocable goal. The first round of the presidential election, which took place simultaneously, failed to produce a decisive result. Incumbent president Maia Sandu - who claims there is evidence that pro-Russian forces bought votes - faces a run-off vote. Europe's press takes a closer look.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has tasked the incumbent chancellor Karl Nehammer from the second-placed Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) with forming the government despite the fact that the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) won the parliamentary elections. According to Van der Bellen, exploratory talks had made it clear that nobody wants to form a coalition with the FPÖ and its leader Herbert Kickl.

The Slovakian Ministry of the Interior and Czech opposition leader Andrej Babiš have struck a deal that clears Babiš of accusations that he was a spy for the Czechoslovak State Security (StB) during the communist era. Babiš had previously sought but failed to have a court in Bratislava rule that he had been listed in the files as an unofficial employee without his knowledge.

Curfews, vaccination campaigns and compulsory face masks. Were the state-imposed restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic really necessary - and effective? These and other questions will not be addressed in the German parliament – at least not in the current legislative period – Katja Mast, leader of the SPD group in the Bundestag, announced on Wednesday. The SPD and FDP have not reached an agreement on how to proceed.

Having already supplied ammunition and missiles, there are reports that North Korea is sending 12,000 soldiers to Russia to be deployed in the Kursk region against Ukraine. According to South Korean intelligence, 1,500 troops are already in Russia. Russia and North Korea signed a military mutual assistance pact last June, but the media see the Ukraine war taking on a whole new dimension with the deployment of the North Korean troops.

England's men's national football team will be coached by Thomas Tuchel from 2025. The fact that a German will be in charge of the team's tactics in the country where the game was born is causing a stir.

Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the radical Islamic Hamas movement and alleged mastermind behind the massacre of 7 October 2023, has been killed during an Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Commentators discuss to what extent this opens up new opportunities.

After a one-week delay, Joe Biden has arrived in Germany for a state visit. His talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will focus on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The outgoing US President will also receive Germany's highest order of merit. Europe's press sees reasons to praise Biden, but the cancelled Ukraine summit in Ramstein is still a topic.

Having explained his "victory plan" to the Ukrainian parliament, President Volodymyr Zelensky presented it to the EU summit and Nato in Brussels on Thursday. A key point of the plan is Ukraine's invitation to join Nato very soon. Almost in passing he mentioned that the only alternative to protection by the Western alliance could be the country having its own nuclear weapons. Media commentators remain sceptical.