Eurotopics.net

After weeks and in some cases months of far-reaching restrictions on public life in many European countries, calls for the anti-pandemic measures to be eased are growing louder. At the same time, new virus variants are reducing the effectiveness of the measures. Europe's press reflects the dilemma governments across the continent face.

Roughly 100 miners of the Lupeni mine in Romania's Jiu Valley (Valea Jiului) are staging a strike underground because they haven't been paid in three months. Their employer Hunedoara S.A., ultimately controlled by the state, has been insolvent for 14 months. The government has now promised to pay the wages and social welfare contributions. The media lambasts Romania for condemning the mining region to a future without hope.

France's Higher Education Minister Frédérique Vidal is being criticised for a study she commissioned on 'Islamo-gauchisme'. It is to examine whether leftist and pro-Islam views are limiting the spectrum of research topics. The country's press is at odds over whether the universities actually have an ideology problem, and if so, how to tackle it.

Austria's Finance Minister Gernot Blümel of the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) is under investigation for corruption following allegations that he intervened in favour of gambling company Novomatic in a tax court case in Italy in exchange for party donations. Now Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (also of the ÖVP) has written a letter to the judicial authorities offering to testify in order to refute the "false assumptions and incorrect facts" against his colleague. Commentators see this as a faux pas.

After several days of talks, the Australian government and Facebook have settled their dispute over the planned new media law (the News Media Bargaining Code). In the future the tech giant is to negotiate payment for journalistic content directly with Australia's media companies and outlets. If the negotiations fail, the government will appoint a mediator. Facebook has said it will reverse its ban on news content and pages.