Eurotopics.net

Romania's Minister of Sports Eduárd Novák has signed a decree requiring that at least 40 percent of the members of teams participating in official national sport competitions be Romanian athletes from the next competition season onwards. The National Council for Combating Discrimination has warned that the decree may violate the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights. Controversy in the national press.

Brexit chaos, the Covid pandemic, numerous scandals: for a long time the British Tory MPs remained loyal to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and he narrowly survived a vote of no confidence in June. But after a barrage of ministerial and cabinet staff resignations, Johnson has announced his resignation as leader of the Tory party, although he wants to remain prime minister until the autumn. This has triggered a lively debate in Europe's press.

A planned prisoner swap with Iran is fuelling debate in Belgium. The country's parliament passed in first reading a draft treaty under which an Iranian diplomat convicted as a terrorist in Antwerp could be exchanged for citizens with Belgian links, including a Swedish-Iranian scientist who taught at a Brussels university and has been sentenced to death. The press reflects on thorny trade-offs.

In Konya, Turkey, a cardiologist was shot dead by a relative of a deceased patient in a state hospital on Wednesday. Doctors across the country went on strike on Thursday and Friday in protest. They complain that violence against health workers in Turkey has increased massively in recent years. To what extent does the government bear the responsibility?

Last Sunday, 25,000 people gathered in Athens for a live performance by popular rapper Lex from Thessaloniki. Contrary to general practice in the music industry Lex doesn't use marketing, but his texts about societal problems are still a big hit. The Greek press discusses his success.