Eurotopics.net

This is no ordinary election: Turkey elects a new parliament and a new president on 14 May. CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu currently has a narrow lead in the polls. Europe's press is feverish to find out whether his alliance will succeed in bringing the long rule of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his AK Party to an end.

The EU Commission presented proposals for a reform of the European debt rules on Wednesday. Under the new rules heavily indebted states will be given customised options for reducing excessive public debt. This would represent a major departure from the current principle according to which the same rules apply to all member states. Some media voice approval for the initiative but others question whether a consensus can be reached here.

Pope Francis begins his three-day visit to the Hungarian capital Budapest today. In addition to meetings with representatives of government and the Catholic Church, Francis will also meet with refugees, children and young people. Commentators discuss what this visit means for Hungary and beyond.

France’s Foreign Minister Gérald Darmanin has deployed a large contingent of police to deport and send home all illegal immigrants in the French overseas department of Mayotte, an island off the east coast of Africa, and destroy the slums where they live. Most of the migrants come from the neighboring Comoro Islands. The demolition was stopped by a court due to the lack of alternative accommodation. The debate in the media continues.

King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands celebrated his tenth anniversary on the throne on King's Day in Rotterdam on Thursday. But both his popularity and public trust in the monarchy are waning. The Dutch Court recently published a ten-part podcast in a bid to bring the royal family closer to the people, and Willem-Alexander has said he wants to "reunite" Dutch society. The press asks: can a king still do this in this day and age?

The presidents of China and Ukraine, Xi Jinping and Volodymyr Zelensky, spoke on the phone for approximately an hour on Wednesday. It was the first direct contact between the two leaders since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Beijing issued a renewed warning about nuclear escalation and announced plans to send special envoys for Eurasian affairs to Kyiv. Europe's press offers various interpretations of the signals.