Eurotopics.net

The Labour government and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are under pressure. Following the release of further Epstein files, Peter Mandelson is suspected of having passed on confidential government information to Jeffrey Epstein, who was already a convicted sex offender, during his time as Secretary of State for Business and Trade. Starmer is now facing accusations of having knowledge of Mandelson's ties to Epstein when he appointed Mandelson as US ambassador in 2024.

Italian MEP and former general Roberto Vannacci has announced he is withdrawing from the right-wing populist Lega and launching a new far-right party called Futuro Nazionale. Vannacci was deputy leader of Lega, which is led by Matteo Salvini and forms part of Italy's coalition government together with Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia and Forza Italia. What is his goal?

At least 15 people were killed and 25 injured, including two Coast Guard officers, when a speedboat carrying migrants collided with a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel off the Greek island of Chios on Tuesday. As in the case of a similar accident in December, the authorities are claiming that the camera on board the Coast Guard vessel was not in operation.

Pedro Sánchez's government is pushing for Spain to introduce a social media ban for under-16s like the one that came into force in Australia in December. Similar legislative initiatives are underway in France, the UK, Romania and Turkey – as is a fierce debate in Europe's press.

The publication of further files in the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continues to raise new questions. Dozens more prominent names appear in the more than three million pages of documents, thousands of videos and well over 100,000 photos most recently released by the US Department of Justice. Commentators discuss the connections between these individuals and Epstein and what consequences they will have.