Eurotopics.net

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš's Ano party has narrowly lost the Czech parliamentary elections with 27.2 per cent of the vote. The winner was the centre-right Spolu alliance with 27.7 per cent, which now wants to form a governing coalition with the centre-left alliance that came in third, consisting of the Pirate Party and the Mayors and Independents (STAN). However, the mandate to form a new government must be given by President Miloš Zeman, who favours Babiš - and is currently in hospital.

Two journalists who are critical of the regimes in their countries have been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize: Maria Ressa (the Philippines) and Dmitry Muratov (Russia). They stand for all those who stand up for the ideal of freedom of expression in a world in which "democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions," the Nobel Committee said in a statement. Europe's press is delighted, but there are those who would have liked to see a bolder choice.

In the end the pressure was just too much: after initially refusing to resign from office amid ongoing corruption investigations, Sebastian Kurz finally resigned on Saturday. The 35-year-old proposed his party colleague and Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg as his interim successor, but he intends to remain ÖVP leader. Commentators don't believe much will change anyway.