Eurotopics.net

The first round of local elections took place in almost 1,000 cities in Italy on Sunday. With parliamentary elections slated for May 2023, the local elections are seen as an important test of public opinion. The right-wing nationalist party Fratelli d'Italia and the social democratic party PD emerged as the strongest parties, while Salvini's Lega party and the Five Star Movement are considered the losers.

The results could hardly be closer: after the first round of the parliamentary elections in France, President Emmanuel Macron's Ensemble alliance has only a razor-thin lead against Jean-Luc Mélenchon's left-wing Nupes alliance, having secured 25.75 percent of the vote versus 25.66. The second round of voting next Sunday will determine whether Macron wins an absolute majority of seats in parliament. Will the president emerge severely weakened from these elections?

While EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was in Kyiv for talks with Volodymyr Zelensky about Ukraine's urgent application to join the EU because of the war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to various Western Balkan countries which have long sought EU membership. The media see a growing competition for Brussels' approval.

Russia's President Putin has compared his own actions with those of Peter the Great, whose 350th birthday was celebrated across the country on 9 June. Putin claims that it is now Russia's turn to regain territory and cement it as part of the country, just as the Russian tsar sought to reconquer parts of Sweden in the Great Northern War. Europe's press rejects this comparison.

A court in the self-proclaimed separatist Donetsk People's Republic DPR has handed down death sentences to two British and one Moroccan citizen who fought on the Ukrainian side. The British government and many countries in Europe have sharply criticised the judgment, saying it violates the law of war. Commentators are equally outraged - and concerned.