Eurotopics.net

Madrid has announced plans to set the minimum wage at 1,000 euros for full-time jobs by the end of 2022. In the longer term, Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz hopes to fulfil the demands of the European Social Charter according to which the minimum wage should be equivalent to 60 percent of a country's median salary. Not all commentators see the left-wing government on the right track.

The EU plans to invest more than 40 billion euros to resolve supply problems on the microchip market: the European Chips Act aims to promote production and research in Europe and thus reduce the continent's dependence on markets in Asia and the US. It is one of the bloc's most important industrial projects in many years, EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton stressed. Europe's press examines the pros and the cons.

In the press conference on Chancellor Scholz's visit to Washington on Monday, US President Biden threatened Russia saying that "there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2" in the event of a Ukraine invasion. The German head of government, on the other hand, did not address the pipeline directly. Berlin should talk turkey, commentators believe.

After his visit to Moscow, French President Macron travelled to Kyiv on Tuesday, where his Ukrainian counterpart Zelensky thanked France for its support. Macron stressed the importance of the Minsk Protocol while Zelensky assured him that Ukraine would implement the agreements. But according to commentators the outcome will depend mainly on Washington and Moscow.

Climate change is causing more and more periods of drought on the Iberian peninsula. In Portugal, the drought is having a direct impact on energy production: because the water level in the reservoirs is very low, the government has banned hydroelectric production at several dams. In neighbouring Spain, too, the water levels at reservoirs are very low. Commentators have different views on what can be done to improve the situation.