Eurotopics.net

Elon Musk, multibillionaire and future head of the US Department of Government Efficiency under US president-elect Donald Trump, has made an election appeal endorsing the right-wing populist AfD in an interview with Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper, triggering a wave of criticism aimed at both Musk and the paper. Early parliamentary elections are due to take place in Germany on February 23. European commentators are at odds over the op-ed.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico surprised both friends and foes with a visit to Moscow shortly before Christmas. His country is in a predicament because Ukraine is refusing to extend a deal allowing the transit of Russian gas via its territory to Slovakia for 2025. Following his visit to Putin, Fico said he would cut off Slovakian power supplies to Ukraine if it continued to refuse transit. He also offered his country as a venue for peace negotiations with Ukraine to Putin.

In 2024, almost half of the world's population was asked to go to the polls: a real super election year. What lessons can be learned from the results? And what are the chances of a successful democratic new beginning in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime? Commentators take stock.