Eurotopics.net

The tenth Brdo-Brijuni summit on the Western Balkans, also known as the Brdo-Brijuni Process, took place in Slovenia on Monday. Slovenia and Croatia launched the initiative for the event in 2013 in order to promote the European integration of the region through regional cooperation. But after the meeting Slovenian media conclude with resignation that the EU has little interest in the issue.

In the regional and local elections in Croatia on Sunday, the major parties did worse than expected, especially in the big cities. In the capital Zagreb, the green-left candidate Tomislav Tomašević of the Možemo alliance won 45.15 percent of the vote. He will now compete in a run-off election on 30 May against the singer Miroslav Škoro, founder of the right-wing populist Homeland Movement DPMŠ.

The Israel-Palestine conflict has taken on new levels of violence in recent days, and yet much of what is happening appears to follow a familiar pattern. The radical Hamas fires rockets at Israeli cities; Israel's army responds with counterattacks on Gaza, invoking the right to self-defence. Europe's press takes stock of the deadlock.

Entrepreneur Elon Musk has triggered extreme price fluctuations in the cryptocurrency bitcoin. In February he invested in bitcoin and began to accept it as a new means of payment, after which the price rose significantly. Then last week he suspended payments with the currency, pointing to bitcoin's poor environmental record, and triggered speculation that he may sell his bitcoin holdings - which has caused its price to plummet.

Michel Barnier, until recently the EU's chief Brexit negotiator and a former minister in France, has made headlines with a migration policy proposal. He wants to suspend all immigration to France from outside the EU for several years - including family reunions. There are commentators who say the proposal crosses a red line and there are others who say it shows courage.