Eurotopics.net

Users who want to upload copyrighted content on the Internet may soon be prevented from doing so by upload filters. The EU Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs last week voted in favour of a copyright law reform that would include this measure. Another controversial point is the ancillary copyright law. The European Parliament will vote on the legislation at the beginning of July. Commentators take a predominantly negative view of the reform.

Eight months after the elections a second government under billionaire Andrej Babiš has been sworn in in Prague. The cabinet comprising members from the liberal Ano and the Social Democratic Party relies on the backing of the Communist Party. Commentators feel reminded of the past.

In an expedited procedure Poland has watered down a controversial law that made the claim that the Polish state or Polish citizens were perpetrators in the Holocaust a punishable offence. Prison sentences will no longer apply. Israel was particularly vocal in its condemnation of the law. Commentators are at odds over whether it's a good idea to punish certain interpretations of history.

The western Balkan states have waited a long time for for accession negotiations with the EU. Now two more have been given a green light: Albania and Macedonia will be invited for talks starting 2019. But their path to EU membership will be long and stony, commentators predict.

Harley-Davidson wants to shift part of its motorbike production overseas to avoid having to raise prices for customers in Europe due to the EU's retaliatory tariffs on US goods. A bitter setback for Trump in the trade war with the EU?