Eurotopics.net

The seating arrangement, which has now been dubbed "sofagate", is what will probably be remembered most about the visit of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel to Ankara. While Michel and Turkey's President Erdoğan sat next to each other on separate chairs, von der Leyen was relegated to a sofa some distance away.

Putin critic Alexei Navalny has gone on a hunger strike to protest the prison authorities' refusal to give him access to adequate medical treatment. His health has further deteriorated; according to his own statements and those of people around him, he now has a severe cough and fever as well as numbness in his hands and legs. Commentators see the regime critic in acute danger.

Because rich countries have secured most of the scarce supplies of Covid vaccines there are still countries that have not received a single dose - despite the Covax aid programme. While China and Russia have sold their vaccines internationally from the outset, and partly given them away, the EU has so far refused to make donations to developing countries. Commentators say that even if did, this wouldn't do much to decrease global disparities.

Under massive pressure from President Miloš Zeman, the former Czech Health Minister Jan Blatný was replaced by Petr Arenberger on Wednesday after only five months in office. Blatný had blocked the clinical testing and introduction of Sputnik V in the Czech Republic, which Zeman vehemently supports. Commentators are emphatically unimpressed by Zeman's - and Russia's - show of force.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has completed its review of the Astrazeneca vaccine and recommended its continued use without restrictions. It concluded that although there is a possible link between the vaccine and very rare cerebral venous thrombosis, the benefits outweigh any potential risks. Europe's press doubts that the Agency's decision will dispel all the doubts.