Eurotopics.net

A new media law in Turkey foresees up to three years in jail for those convicted of spreading "disinformation". Not only journalists but also users of social media can be punished. Commentators accuse the government of restricting freedom of expression and criticise the law also against the backdrop of the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in June 2023.

EU leaders have reached an agreement in the dispute over plans to construct a pipeline to transport energy from Spain and Portugal via France to Germany. Instead of the MidCat land pipeline which would have run across the Pyrenees and which Macron opposed, an underwater pipeline between Barcelona and Marseille called BarMar is to be built. It is to be used for the transportation of gas initially, but also for green hydrogen later on.

Just a few days after tomato soup was thrown at a Van Gogh painting at the National Gallery in London, activists from the climate protection protest group Last Generation have smeared mashed potatoes on a painting from Claude Monet's Haystack series the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. Commentators see these acts as the wrong way to draw attention to the urgent climate problem.

After the resignation of Liz Truss the UK needs a new prime minister, and things are looking good for Rishi Sunak. The former Chancellor of the Exchequer has gathered far more than the necessary 100 Conservative MP votes, Boris Johnson officially dropped out of the race on Sunday and Lord President of the Council Penny Mordaunt is still collecting votes. The press hopes for a return to stability.

Giorgia Meloni is Italy's first female prime minister. On Sunday she received the small symbolic cabinet bell from her predecessor Mario Draghi and took the oath of office. Meloni's government includes her post-fascist Fratelli d'Italia party, Matteo Salvini's right-wing populist Lega and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia. Commentators discuss what this shift to the right means for Europe.