Eurotopics.net

Putin has postponed the constitutional reform referendum originally planned for 22 April to 1 July. In response to the pandemic, the vote will take place mostly outdoors and with the option of casting ballots up to a week in advance. For some commentators, it's about time the vote happened; others see propaganda at work.

Last Friday Latvia became the first EU country to launch a Covid-19 tracing app for tracking chains of infection. The state-run app is based on a new programming interface jointly developed by Google and Apple in reaction to the pandemic. However only around 40,000 people have downloaded the app so far.

In the wake of George Floyd's murder, demonstrations are also being staged in many European countries. The rallies are also directed against racial hatred and structural violence in these countries. Commentators examine whether Europe needs to clean up its own act before condemning others.

Almost 1.5 million coronavirus infections and around 167,000 deaths: these are the figures recorded to date by the EU agency ECDC for the European Economic Area plus the UK. However, new infection rates are declining across Europe and are now as low as they were in mid-March. Commentators take stock.

Since the start of the coronavirus crisis Sweden has attracted attention for of its liberal approach to the pandemic. But recently critical voices have gained traction due to the country's comparatively high death toll. Leading Swedish virologist Anders Tegnell said on Wednesday that his country's strategy needed to be partially revised. Were the Swedes too uncritical of their authorities?