Eurotopics.net

The campaign for local elections in Turkey on 31 March is gathering pace. All eyes are on Istanbul, where the opposition mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu is running for re-election. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented former city planning minister Murat Kurum as İmamoğlu's opponent on Sunday. Commentators speculate on the election outcome.

After former French prime minister Elisabeth Borne announced her resignation earlier this week, President Emmanuel Macron has appointed the country's most popular minister, Gabriel Attal, as her successor. Europe's press asks whether Attal, 34, can put the wind back in the sails and keep Macron's boat afloat and skimming along until the next presidential elections in 2027.

Polish police have arrested two members of the former ruling party PiS who had sought refuge in the presidential palace. Former interior minister Mariusz Kamiński and his deputy Maciej Wąsik were sentenced in December to two years in prison for abuse of office in an appeal trial. President Andrzej Duda had pardoned them after the judgement by a court of first instance. The judges overruled the pardon.

With reference to Sweden's planned accession to Nato and the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Swedish Commander-in-Chief Micael Bydén and Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin have called on the Swedes to prepare for a potential war. Practical action must be taken, Bohlin stressed at the Annual National Defence Conference. Commentators share their concern.

One of the most important figures in German football has died: Franz Beckenbauer passed away on Sunday aged 78. The "Kaiser" inspired with his unique elegance and lightness, won numerous championship titles as a player and coach, and brought the 2006 World Cup to Germany. Commentators look back on his career.