Eurotopics.net

After his election as US president, Donald Trump's first picks for key foreign policy positions have become known. Military veteran and Fox News presenter Pete Hegseth is to head the US Department of Defence, while Marco Rubio is under discussion as the next Secretary of State and Mike Waltz as the new National Security Adviser. Both are considered hardliners vis-à-vis China and have criticised the current policy on Ukraine. Europe's press weighs in.

Another major row has broken out in Vilnius in the process of forming a new government: contrary to previous statements, the Social Democrats have announced that they will form a coalition with the centre-left party Vardan Lietuvos and the populist party Nemuno Aušra (NA). NA's leader, Remigijus Žemaitaitis, was forced to give up his seat in the Seimas before the elections after making antisemitic statements. President Gitanas Nausėda has said he will reject any ministers put forward by NA.

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has resigned from his post after coming under fire for his handling of an abuse scandal in the Anglican Church. As head of the Church of England, he was criticised for not making public decades of abuse against over 100 boys and young men by a Church employee who died in 2018.

The Italian judiciary has once again halted the plans of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to have refugees' asylum applications processed outside the EU. A court in Rome ruled that the detention of seven migrants from Egypt and Bangladesh in a reception centre in Albania was unlawful. The way in which countries of origin are designated as safe had previously been criticised by the courts. The press takes a closer look.