Eurotopics.net

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo's Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti have concluded an economic agreement in Washington brokered by the US. Under the agreement Kosovo will become part of a free trade zone initiated by Serbia. However, the paper also contains a passage stating that both countries recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will move or open their embassies there. Journalists attempt to interpret the consequences.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has woken up from his artificial coma at the Berlin Charité hospital and, according to his doctors, is responsive. Meanwhile, the debate about stopping construction of the almost completed Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline is becoming increasingly heated. German Chancellor Angela Merkel now no longer rules out this course of action. But not all commentators think it is a good idea.

Solidarność, the first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country, was approved in Poland 40 years ago, paving the way for the overthrow of communism in Europe. Its leader and former Polish president Lech Wałęsa is a thorn in the side of today's PiS government whose anti-liberal course he has repeatedly criticised. Forty years on, Poland is at odds about whether Wałęsa is a hero or a communist collaborator.

The Berlin Corona demonstration in which tens of thousands of people took part at the end of August drew attention from across Europe. A week later, thousands of people also took to the streets in Rome and Zagreb in protest at the pandemic measures. Commentators discuss the sources of the protesters' frustration and lack of understanding and ask how they should be addressed.

Tensions between Berlin and Moscow are growing after the attack on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Both sides have accused each other of delaying the investigations. In Germany the possibility of discontinuing construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is almost complete, is being discussed. Is this the only viable course of action?