Eurotopics.net

In Moscow several demonstrators have been handed down multi-year prison sentences. According to Russian news agencies one man was given a three-year prison sentence for pepper-spraying police, and a blogger has been sentenced to five years in a penal camp. Commentators criticise the sentences as unreasonably harsh.

The British government is apparently making plans for a snap election to prevent Brexit opponents in Parliament from passing legislation that would oblige Prime Minister Boris Johnson to postpone Britain's departure from the EU. The talk is of a three-month extension of the deadline. What impact would a snap election - which could take place as soon as 14 October - have on the Brexit crisis?

The "Stork's Nest" affair in which Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is under investigation for fraud involving EU subsidies has taken a surprising turn: the prosecutor's office has dropped the case. The decision contradicts the findings of the EU, however it is not yet definitive. Czech media doubt this will be the end of the affair.

Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis has asked his British counterpart Johnson to lend Athens a collection of marble statues known as the Elgin Marbles in exchange for Greek antique treasures. The statues which formed part of the Acropolis were removed by the British ambassador in the 19th century when Greece was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and sold to the British Museum. The Greek press does not entirely approve of the plan.

Die britische Regierung plant offenbar Neuwahlen für den Fall, dass Brexit-Gegner im Parlament Premier Johnson per Gesetz zu einer Verschiebung des EU-Austritts verpflichten. Im Gespräch ist eine Fristverlängerung um drei Monate. Was würden Neuwahlen, die am 14. Oktober stattfinden könnten, für die Brexit-Krise bedeuten?