Eurotopics.net

Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, is discussing restricting access for media representatives following inappropriate behaviour on the part of two journalists, with one of them making an obscene gesture to a photographer. The Rada has long been looking for an excuse to hamper the activities of the press in the parliament, commentators criticise.

Beate Zschäpe, the main defendant in the trial of the German neo-Nazi terrorist group the NSU, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for complicity in ten murders. The four other accused were given sentences ranging from two and a half to ten years in prison. Commentators observe the advance of a far right movement in Germany and call for the focus on Islamist terror to be revised.

At the start of the Nato summit US President Trump has levelled serious accusations at Germany, saying it is controlled by and hostage to Russia. In the view of some commentators the president is simply voicing an unpleasant truth. Others see his comments as an strategy of humiliation aimed at weakening Europe.

Italian Interior Minister Salvini has banned an Italian coastguard ship with 67 refugees on board from docking in Sicily. He has called for "guarantees" that refugees will be brought back to Africa. Some journalists praise Salvini for helping to close refugee routes. Others accuse him of playing a dirty game aimed at destroying the EU.