Eurotopics.net

Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova was found raped and murdered in the city of Ruse in Bulgaria on the weekend. She was a presenter for the local television station TVN and had been investigating alleged corruption involving EU funds. The motive for the murder remains unclear. Commentators doubt that the Bulgarian courts will bring the culprits to justice and point to a lack of press freedom in Central Eastern Europe.

The Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been missing in Turkey for several days. The Turkish police suspects that he has been murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Riyadh has denied this. Khashoggi's disappearance is indicative of the Saudi royal family's policy of silencing its critics, commentators say.

Brazil is facing a political earthquake. The far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro of the Social Liberal Party (PSL) only narrowly missed winning the presidential election in its first round. In three weeks time he will run against the ex-mayor of São Paulo, Fernando Haddad of the Workers' Party (PT), in the second round. For commentators his success is the result of a failed political system.

In Romania a referendum aimed at having marriage defined as a union exclusively between a man and a woman in the country's constitution failed on the weekend. For the vote to be valid at least 30 percent of those entitled to vote would have had to participate, but the turnout was just around 21 percent. Commentators complain that despite its failure the referendum has had a negative impact on society.

London and the EU are at an impasse in the Brexit negotiations. At the summit in Salzburg the leaders of the other 27 member states rejected British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan. Commentators see the EU adopting an uncompromising stance - but not all of them want the two sides to reach an agreement.

Migration was the second big topic alongside Brexit at the summit in Salzburg. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz proposed seeking a similar deal with Cairo to the one with Ankara. There was a general consensus on the need to boost the resources for Frontex. Some commentators believe the EU is on the right path. Others predict that the devil will be in the details.