Eurotopics.net

Three weeks ago, the Netherlands lifted almost all its Covid-related restrictions. Clubs and discos were allowed to reopen for the first time in over a year. Last Saturday, however, the country's health authority reported 10,000 new infections and Prime Minister Mark Rutte was forced to backpedal. He and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge apologised on Monday for the "yo-yo policy".

The Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), which is close to President Maia Sandu, clearly won the Moldovan parliamentary election on Sunday with 52.8 per cent of the vote. The communists and socialists under Sandu's predecessor Igor Dodon only achieved 27.2 per cent. With their previous parliamentary majority, Dodon's supporters had blocked the formation of a government for months. Is the way now clear for reforms?

After four years of trials Iceland is introducing a four-day workweek. Around 86 percent of the country's employees will now have the right to work a 35-hour week instead of the previous 40 hours - with full pay. Trials with one percent of the workforce testified to fewer cases of burnout, higher job satisfaction and equal or even improved performance. The model is stimulating debate in other countries.

In the wake of the plane hijacking and the resulting EU sanctions on Minsk, the number of migrants crossing the border from Belarus into Lithuania has risen to well over 100 per day - many of them people who have travelled from Iraq, Syria and Russia. Lukashenka has confirmed that he is deliberately not stopping drug smugglers or mass migrations at the border. Lithuania has declared a state of emergency and is now erecting a border fence.

Italy has won the Euro 2020 European football championship with a 3-2 victory against England on penalties. The game was watched by 60,000 fans at London's Wembley Stadium. The day after the final Europe's commentators are full of praise for the two teams but criticise a lack of scrutiny regarding the organisation of the tournament in the context of the pandemic.