Eurotopics.net

Following huge tensions in the UN Security Council in particular regarding the Syrian war, the diplomats of 15 member states have convened today Friday for a weekend of informal talks in a country house in southern Sweden. The General Secretary António Guterres will also be in attendance. Just how important is the work of the United Nations these days?

The Cuban parliament has elected the former Vice-President Miguel Díaz-Canel to take over from 86-year-old President Raúl Castro, who stepped down on Thursday. In 2006 he took over government duties from his ailing brother Fidel Castro, who died in 2016. What opportunities will the new leadership bring?

In an address to the EU Parliament French President Macron has warned against a further rise of authoritarianism and called for speedy reforms to the EU. Paris is taking over the role as Europe's leader from Berlin, commentators observe. But not all are convinced that the other EU states will play along.

The US has hailed the airstrikes it carried out in Syria together with Britain and France as a success, claiming that they have considerably reduced the Assad regime's ability to produce chemical weapons. Journalists speculate on what comes next - with Iran in particular in mind.

Poland is banned from logging in the ancient Białowieża Forest, the European Court of Justice has ruled, upholding a complaint filed by the EU. The court concluded that the country had broken EU environmental laws with its large-scale logging, which it argued was necessary to protect trees from an outbreak of bark beetle. Warsaw has said it will respect the ruling. Commentators find it noteworthy that this time a major confrontation appears to have been avoided.

On the occasion of the Commonwealth Meeting currently taking place in London British Labour MP Emily Thornberry has called on Britain to apologise for the suffering it caused in its former colonies. Not all commentators agree with this view of the country's past.