Eurotopics.net

Masoud Pezeshkian, who is widely seen as a moderate reformer, has been elected as Iran's new president. Before entering politics Pezeshkian was a doctor and heart surgeon, and then health minister under former president Mohammad Khatami between 2001 and 2005. Both politicians stand for the desire for reform and improved relations with the West. Nevertheless, Europe's press sees little hope of real change.

Labour leader Keir Starmer has won a landslide victory in the UK general elections with his promise of "change". With almost all votes counted, Labour has won a clear majority with 412 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, while the Tories have suffered heavy losses with only 121 seats. The Liberal Democrats came third, ffollowed by the SNP, with the right-wing populist Reform UK winning four seats.

Turkey is rejoicing after its national team qualified for the quarter-finals in the Euro 24 football tournament for the first time since 2008 with a 2:1 victory against Austria. However Merih Demiral, who scored the country's two goals in the game, is facing a ban for making a "wolf" salute, which is linked to the right-wing extremist Grey Wolves youth group, after he scored his second goal. Is this justified?

In the first round of the parliamentary elections in France, the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) and its allies emerged as the strongest force. Ahead of the second round of voting on Sunday, the leftist alliance Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP), which came second, and the third-placed Macronist camp have withdrawn more than 200 candidates in total in order to boost each other's chances against the RN.

Hungarian Prime Minister and current EU Council President Viktor Orbán visited Ukraine for the first time in more than a decade this week. In a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky he proposed a quick ceasefire as a basis for peace negotiations, urging the Ukrainian leader to rethink his demand that Russian troops withdraw before talks can begin. Commentators see this as a calculated move.