Eurotopics.net

Spain's left-wing coalition government consisting of the two parties PSOE and Unidas Podemos wants to ban by law statements that glorify the Franco dictatorship. The country's media is divided over whether this will have the desired effect.

In his annual state of the nation address, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán praised the success of his policies. He also attacked US billionaire George Soros and the "tired Brussels elites." Hungarian media take a critical view of the leader's statements and call attention to the issues he failed to mention.

The three-day-long Munich Security Conference ended on Sunday. This year's slogan at the summit was "Westlessness", with high-ranking participants from politics and business examining the question of what defines the "West" today and what future the concept has. Europe's press is unanimous that there are deep rifts within the alliance, but at odds over how to remedy the situation.

A court in the Russian city of Penza has sentenced seven young men to prison terms of between six and 18 years. According to the prosecution they founded a left-wing terrorist group called Set (network) with the intention of overthrowing the government. But the group had not committed any concrete crimes and NGO Memorial says that the confessions were extracted by the FSB using torture. The case has triggered a wave of indignation and protest.

The Greek government has announced plans to start building closed refugee camps on five Aegean islands in March. The people living in these new camps will no longer be able to come and go as they please and their asylum procedures are to be processed within 90 days of their arrival. Overcrowded camps such as the Moria refugee camp on Lesbos are to be closed. The media are divided over the plans.