Eurotopics.net

The threatening gestures are intensifying in the row between Greece and Turkey over gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean. Ankara accused Athens on Monday of sending troops to the island of Kastellorizo, where a Turkish research vessel has been surveying the waters off the coast. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has voiced concern about the growing presence of warships in the region. Who is to blame for the escalation, and is there any way out?

Five years after the attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the trial of fourteen alleged helpers begins on Wednesday. The attackers were shot dead by the police after they killed twelve members of the editorial staff, a police office and four hostages at a kosher supermarket. The press comments on the significance of the trial.

Hungary issued a ban preventing most foreigners from entering the country on Tuesday, citing rising Covid-19 infection rates. After fierce protests, travellers from the three other Visegrád states, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, were exempted from the ban. Not only the EU but also commentators criticise the border closure.

Five years ago, on 31 August 2015, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced at a press conference: "We can do it." Although her words initially received little attention, today they are among the central statements of the refugee crisis. Commentators examine whether Merkel's words have been borne out by the facts.