Eurotopics.net

After seven years of negotiations, Switzerland has pulled out of talks on the Institutional Framework Agreement with the EU. There was no agreement on crucial points, said Swiss President Guy Parmelin. The main sticking points were wage and worker protection and free movement of persons. While some commentators welcome the withdrawal, others warn of undesirable consequences.

On the fringes of the Ice Hockey World Championships currently taking place in Riga, the city's mayor and the Latvian foreign minister caused a scandal by replacing the official flag of Belarus flying outside the hotel where the teams are staying with the white-red-white version of the opposition. Belarus reacted by expelling the Latvian ambassador and other diplomats. Now Latvia has retaliated by expelling the Belarusian embassy staff.

During his visit to Rwanda this week, French President Emmanuel Macron has recognised his country's role in the 1994 genocide. France "stood beside a genocidal regime" but was "not an accomplice" to the crimes and the perpetrators, the president said. Historians had submitted a Rwanda report commissioned by Macron in March.

A Wall Street Journal report has given fresh impetus to the theory that Sars-Cov-2 originated from a Chinese lab. According to the report based on unpublished US intelligence, employees of the Wuhan Institute of Virology showing symptoms similar to Covid sought hospital care in November 2019. US President Biden is demanding clarification and has expanded the US intelligence agency investigation, saying he wants a report within 90 days.