Eurotopics.net

The recent opening of the first branches of the German discount supermarket chain Lidl in Latvia was big news in the national press. However, a debate is raging over whether the new stores can actually bring about the expected reduction in food prices. Commentators also point to undesirable side effects.

Four days after the parliamentary elections it is still not clear who will form the next government in Prague. The Spolu alliance emerged as the strongest force, but President Miloš Zeman, who would normally instruct the leader of the winning party to form a new government, is still in hospital. The narrow defeat of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš's Ano party will nonetheless have consequences - also for Europe, according to commentators.

Chinese head of state Xi Jinping on Sunday called on Taiwan to join the People's Republic, a call Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen firmly rejected. Last week China sent fighter jets into the Taiwanese air defence zone several times. Now the Pentagon has admitted that US instructors are secretly training Taiwan's army. Commentators take very different views of the escalation.

The recent revelations about cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church have triggered a heated debate over the seal of confession in France. The key question: are priests obliged to report cases of abuse if they learn about them in a confidential conversation? Or is the seal of confession above the laws of the Republic, as Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, Archbishop of Reims, has said?

The summit meeting between the EU and Ukraine on Tuesday in Kyiv ended without any indications that Ukraine will be joining the European Union in the near future. However, an Open Skies treaty integrating Ukraine into the European airspace was signed. Commentators praise the deal.