Eurotopics.net

Over the last few days, thousands of Bulgarians have taken to the streets to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's government. The protesters accuse it of maintaining close links to criminal oligarchs. Borisov has reacted by announcing social measures to cushion the impact of the coronavirus crisis and dismissing five ministers. Commentators doubt this will be enough.

Tens of thousands of Muslims gathered on Friday in and outside the Hagia Sophia for the first Friday prayers to be held there in 85 years. Built in 537 and now a Unesco World Heritage Site, the building was a church until 1453, then a mosque, and most recently a museum. While Turkey's President Erdoğan celebrated the building's controversial reopening as a mosque, Europe's press mourns the move.

Prompted by a surge in infection rates, the British government has introduced a two-week quarantine for tourists returning from Spain. Tui UK, the country's biggest tour operator, reacted by cancelling all flights to the Spanish mainland. This is a major blow for Spain's tourism industry, as British holidaymakers account for 20 percent of foreign visitors, making them the largest group by nationality. Was the move inevitable?

Zbigniew Ziobro, the Polish minister of justice and founder of the PiS spin-off Solidarna Polska, wants his country to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention. Among other things, the Convention obliges signatory states to classify any form of violence against women and girls and all forms of domestic violence as a crime. Commentators discuss why the the Convention is suddenly the centre of attention again in Poland.