Eurotopics.net

Hundreds of refugees are stuck at the EU border between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Police are preventing them from entering the EU. A debate has broken out in Croatia about how to deal with refugees, with one local politician calling for the use of barbed wire and machine guns. For commentators from Croatia the reaction is out of all proportion to the threat.

Spain's Supreme Court has ruled that the stamp tax due on mortgages must be paid by the client and not the bank, overturning its decision of just two and a half weeks ago in the clients' favour, which had caused bank shares to plunge. According to Spain's press, the court ruling has inflicted major damage.

Following Austria's rejection of the UN migration pact opposition to the accord has also surfaced in the Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia and Slovenia. The US, Hungary and Australia had already announced their rejection of the pact. Commentators voice their criticism of how the pact, which is not binding, has been covered in the media.

Two years after Trump's election victory, today Congressional elections, which are always seen as a litmus test halfway through a presidency, are being held in the US. Commentators ask how Trump will cope if a Democrat-dominated House of Representatives makes it more difficult for him to throw his weight about.

The end of World War 1 on 11 November 1918 was seen as the dawn of a new era: around 17 million people lost their lives and three empires were destroyed. In retrospect the end of the carnage became a benchmark for European reconciliation and union. What are the lessons we can learn from the seminal catastrophe of the 20th century?