Eurotopics.net

The left-wing senator Bernie Sanders has won the second Democratic primary contest in the US. With 26 percent of the vote he secured a narrow victory over pragmatic and moderate candidate Pete Buttigieg, who won the Iowa primary by a razor-thin margin. Europe's commmentators examine Sanders' chances and look back at the US presidential election four years ago.

The way has been paved for Italy's former interior minister to face trial in Rome after the country's Senate lifted Matteo Salvini's immunity on Wednesday. The leader of the far-right Lega is accused of abuse of office and deprivation of liberty. In July 2019 he refused for several days to allow the coast guard ship Gregoretti with 116 refugees on board to dock at an Italian port. Commentators fear the trial will help Salvini rather than harm him.

Pope Francis has disappointed Church reformers by upholding the rule of strict celibacy for priests. In the letter "Querida Amazonia" released on Wednesday Francis did not take up the recommendation of October's Amazon Synod to allow married men to serve as priests in exceptional cases. The European press comments on the dispute within the Church.

The Romanian Chamber of Deputies has passed a law exempting journalists and technicians in radio and broadcasting from income tax. In an open letter, 13 prominent Romanian journalists are now calling on President Klaus Iohannis not to sign the law on the grounds that it constitutes unfair preferential treatment. Commentators fear the media's independence will be further jeopardised.