Eurotopics.net

The Austrians will elect a new parliament on Sunday. Polls give the conservative ÖVP led by ex-chancellor Sebastian Kurz a substantial lead. The previous government collapsed as a result of the Ibiza scandal involving former FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache. Commentators still aren't ruling out the possibility of a new coalition between the ÖVP and the FPÖ.

Many of the roughly 600,000 tourists left stranded by the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook, the world's oldest tour operator, are still waiting to return home. Some 22,000 employees lost their jobs overnight. Journalists veer between anger and gloating.

At their Malta mini-summit at the start of the week the interior ministers of France, Germany, Italy and Malta reached an agreement on a provisional solution for migrants rescued from the Mediterranean Sea. Commentators discuss whether this offers a first glimmer of hope for joint action on migration policy.

The judges of the UK's Supreme Court have ruled unanimously that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's prorogation of parliament was unlawful. A bitter blow for Johnson, who had argued that he needed the prorogation to have time to prepare a government policy statement, known as the Queen's Speech. Will the ruling bring clarity to the confused political situation?

The US Democrats have taken the first steps in impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump. The background is a telephone call in which Trump reportedly asked the Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky to place the son of presidential hopeful Joe Biden, who is a member of the board of a Ukrainian gas company, under investigation. Commentators speculate on whether the proceedings have any chance of success.