Eurotopics.net

Sweden's ruling Social Democrats want to grant all parents of children aged four to sixteen five extra days of paid holiday per year. Parents are to use these days to take care of their children during school holidays, the idea being that the measure would mainly benefit workers who can't afford private daycare. How much sense does the plan make?

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has accused Pope Francis in a letter of having covered up allegations of abuse against the former archbishop of Washington Theodore McCarrick to protect the "gay lobby" in the Vatican. Just before Viganò made his accusations the Pope had harshly condemned the cases of abuse within the Catholic Church. Criticism of the Pope and the Church should not go too far, commentators warn.

After the rioting of far-right demonstrators in the city of Chemnitz in eastern Germany on Sunday and Monday, xenophobia is once again a major topic in the country. For some commentators the riots testify to a failure of the German constitutional state. Others see the mass arrival of migrants in 2015 and the resulting 'welcome culture' as the deep-seated reasons for the far-right violence.

French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot announced his resignation in a live broadcast by radio station France Inter on Tuesday. The former environmental activist justified his decision saying that he felt that the government had left him "all alone" in his campaign for the environment. Many commentators find his actions understandable.

Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have announced that they are forming an anti-migration alliance in the EU. During his visit to Milan Orbán praised Salvini for his attempt to stop migrants already crossing the Mediterranean to Italy and send them back to their countries of origin. Commentators examine how much common ground there really is between the two.