Eurotopics.net

In the second quarter of 2020, 1.07 million people lost their jobs in Spain in the worst-ever slump on the Spanish labour market. On top of that there is a vast number of employees on short-time work and freelancers without commissions. Spanish media call for the EU recovery funds to be used to make the country's labour market less vulnerable.

The French parliament is debating the planned revision of the bioethics law at second reading this week. The draft from autumn 2019 provides for all women - and not just heterosexual spouses - to be granted the right to artificial insemination. Now the possibility of enshrining pre-implantation diagnostics in the law is also under discussion. Here too, opinions clash.

With a hundred days to go before the US presidential elections, the Democratic candidate and former vice president Joe Biden is around 10 percentage points ahead of Republican incumbent Donald Trump in the polls. Commentators discuss potential developments before and after 3 November.

Local and regional coronavirus hotspots have recently emerged in several European countries. Critics fear that the increase in international tourism will make it more difficult to track infection chains. Some countries have responded with increased coronavirus testing or quarantine for travellers from high-risk areas. Commentators' recommendations range from stringent controls to extreme caution.

A new ceasefire began on Monday for eastern Ukraine, but according to Kiev it was broken by the separatists on the very first day. Prior to the move Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin had talked on the phone and both declared their support for the Minsk agreements and the Normandy process. Observers, however, do not have much faith in their words.

After the dismissal of Szabolcs Dull, chief editor of Index, the media outlet's entire editing staff and over 70 employees have resigned in protest. In March a media entrepreneur with close ties to Orbán acquired 50 percent of the company that handles the outlet's advertising business. Thousands gathered in Budapest on Friday to demonstrate for press freedom. Commentators also voice their concern.