Eurotopics.net

The Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament is currently reviewing the candidates put forward by Ursula von der Leyen for the EU Commission. The nominations of the Romanian Rovana Plumb and the Hungarian Laszlo Trócsányi have been blocked after they were deemed to have financial conflicts of interest. Commentators describe the tug of war between the EU Parliament and the Commission president.

In France, the first EU country where the new European ancillary copyright law is due to come into force at the end of October, Google is refusing to pay publishers and has announced that it will only list headlines in its search results instead. Europe's media are outraged by the tech giant's response to the law.

After the publication of the protocol of the incriminating phone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the two leaders have come under fire in their countries. Commentators examine the repercussions on bilateral and international relations from various standpoints.

It was the worst ship accident in European post-war history: on 28 September 1994 MS Estonia sank on its way from Tallinn to Stockholm, dragging 852 people to their death. Many people in Sweden and Estonia commemorated the 25th anniversary of the tragedy on the weekend. There are still no conclusive answers as to why the ship sank. Estonia's press discusses whether a new investigation should be launched.

Shortly before Austrians elect a new National Council on Sunday polls give the conservative ÖVP led by ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz a substantial lead. The previous government consisting of the conservative ÖVP and the far-right FPÖ collapsed as a result of the Ibiza scandal involving former FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache. The latter has now also been implicated in an expenses scandal. This and other factors prompt concern about the state of Austrian politics.

He was president of France from 1995 to 2007. Now Jacques Chirac has died, aged 86. His political career began as a member of former president Georges Pompidou's team. He served as prime minister twice and was mayor of Paris for 18 years. Journalists discuss Chirac's impact on French politics.