European Union

On Sunday, France will hold a runoff election for the presidency. The latest polls put incumbent Emmanuel Macron ahead of his opponent Marine Le Pen, who is assigned to the far-right political spectrum, with 55 percent. The kingmakers will be those who voted for leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the first round of the voting. Europe's press is deeply concerned for France's future.

The battle for eastern Ukraine is raging: the Russian military on Wednesday reported that it had attacked 1,053 Ukrainian military sites. Ukraine said that it had blocked Russian troops from entering Sloviansk. Evacuations have begun in Kramatorsk. Ukrainian President Zelensky warned the population about attacks on residential areas. Commentators are following the situation with grave concern.

EU Council President Charles Michel paid an unexpected visit to Kyiv on Wednesday. At a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky he said the EU would "do everything" to ensure Ukraine "will win the war". Empty promises or a sea change?

Slovak investigators have accused former three-time prime minister Robert Fico and Robert Kaliňák, his interior minister for many years, of setting up a criminal organisation and committing tax offences. Kaliňák has been arrested, but as leader of the parliamentary opposition, Fico enjoys immunity for the time being. Commentators assess the implications.

According to research by The Citizen Lab think tank, the mobile phones of more than 60 Catalan separatists were tapped between 2017 and 2020. The Israeli spyware Pegasus was allegedly used, as reported in The New Yorker. The junior government partner Unidas Podemos is demanding that the Socialists, who have been in government since 2018, set up a parliamentary investigation. Who bears the responsibility here?