Eurotopics.net

In the self-proclaimed pro-Russian people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk new leaders and parliaments were elected on Sunday - for the second time since 2014 and despite the fact that the Minsk Protocol stipulates that local elections in these areas must take place according to Ukrainian law. Observers ask whether the elections, which are not recognised by the West and Kiev, will escalate the conflict in Donbass.

The people of Europe will elect the European Parliament for the ninth time in May 2019, just two months after Britain is due to leave the Union. Observers predict strong results for right-wing populist and anti-EU forces and look at ways to prevent this.

More than 60 heads of state and government including Trump, Putin, Merkel and Macron commemorated the end of World War I in Paris on the weekend. The French president warned of the threat posed by the rise of nationalism. One hundred years after the signing of the armistice in the Forest of Compiègne, Europe's commentators ask if the date really is cause for celebration.

More than 250,000 people took part in a march marking the 100th anniversary of Polish independence on Sunday. In addition to representatives of the ruling party PiS, far-right groups from all over Europe also attended. Warsaw's mayor had made an unsuccessful attempt to ban the march. How close are the ties between the PiS and extremist nationalists?