Eurotopics.net

Artificial intelligence has created huge expectations for the future of the economic system, the labour market, mobility and day-to-day life. At the same time over and above concerns about data protection and cyber security, fears are growing that robots could replace people. Commentators in Europe look at how AI can be developed in such a way that everyone can benefit.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has started out on her voyage across the Atlantic from Plymouth, in southern England. In roughly two weeks't time the yacht will reach New York, where Thunberg will participate in the UN Climate Change Summit in September. Commentators increasingly criticise the hype surrounding the 16-year-old and explain who stands to benefit from it.

US President Trump has announced that the US is interested in purchasing Greenland. The partially sovereign Arctic territory is still a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark and is largely subsidised by it. Commenting on the announcement Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said: "I hope very much that this is not meant seriously." Commentators try to work out what Trump has in mind.

The Turkish government on Monday dismissed the mayors of the southeastern municipalities of Diyarbakır, Mardin and Van and replaced them with state-appointed trustees less than five months after they were elected. The state has accused the Kurdish politicians of having links to the PKK. Is this a legitimate move in the fight against terror or the death blow for what remains of Turkish democracy?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit the Hungarian city of Sopron today to commemorate the Pan-European Picnic together with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. On 19 August 1989 GDR citizens used this event to flee to the West across the Austrian-Hungarian border. Commentators find it notable that of all politicians these two are coming together to celebrate the first cracks in the Iron Curtain.