Eurotopics.net

The government reshuffle in France is still a big topic of discussion. After the poor performance of the ruling party LREM in the second round of the municipal elections, President Emmanuel Macron redistributed key ministerial portfolios. Commentators suspect he is using the appointments to position himself for the 2022 presidential elections - but are at odds as to whether the strategy will pay off.

A runoff vote in Poland's presidential elections on Sunday will see right-wing incumbent Andrzej Duda pitted against the liberal mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski. Duda garnered 43.5 percent of the vote in the first ballot, Trzaskowski 30.5 percent. Commentators discuss the dividing lines running through the country's electorate.

The holiday season has begun but many people have decided to forgo long journeys this year. Infection rates are rising in many parts of southern Europe, just as the first holidaymakers are arriving. Concurring that the urge to see faraway places is an irresistible force, commentators describe the travel industry's fight for survival and hope for the emergence of a new kind of tourism.

Italy's government has launched a package of 130 measures with which it hopes to convince even the most sceptical EU member states of its will to reform. The country's ailing economy is to be stimulated through the reduction of bureaucracy, digitalisation and investments in infrastructure. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte presented the package as the "mother of all reforms", but the press clearly has its doubts about the plan.

Czech author Milan Kundera has lived in Paris for decades, writes only in French and does not authorise Czech translations of his works. Nevertheless, the first major biography about him has now appeared in the Czech Republic. The 900-page work by Jan Novák, which maintains that Kundera had close ties to the communist authorities, meets with little enthusiasm in commentaries.