Eurotopics.net

The French Constitutional Council has declared more than a third of the provisions in the country's new immigration law to be unconstitutional. Most had been added to the law at the behest of the conservative Les Républicains party. Three articles, including the planned immigration quotas, were rejected due to content, and 32 due to lacking reference to the original draft.

The US, Germany, France, the UK and other countries have suspended their funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) after Israel presented information according to which twelve employees of the aid organisation were allegedly involved in the 7 October attack by Islamist terrorist organisation Hamas. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has promised a thorough investigation.

After the first round of voting on Sunday, two of the nine candidates seeking to succeed popular Sauli Niinistö as Finnish president have made it to the second round: former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, who like Niinistö belongs to the conservative National Coalition Party, and the Green Party candidate Pekka Haavisto, who is running as an independent. Voters have thus already made two fundamental decisions, commentators note.

After Eastern European farmers in particular protested against cheap grain from Ukraine last summer, farmers are now blockading motorways in Germany, France and other countries in protest at high fuel prices. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has initiated a "strategic dialogue" on the future of the agricultural sector. Europe's press looks at the causes and eyes the future with apprehension.