Eurotopics.net

The EU Commission looks likely to backtrack on its plans to ban the combustion engine in 2035: in an interview with Handelsblatt newspaper, Sustainable Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas has declared himself "open to all technologies". Previously German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote a letter to Brussels asking it to continue to allow "highly efficient" combustion vehicles in addition to hybrid cars.

A breakthrough in the negotiations on the war in Ukraine seems a long way off. In the Black Sea, for the first time, Ukraine attacked oil tankers heading for Russia. Military and security issues are high on the agenda in every country – and Putin is making insinuations about a war with Europe. Is the continent on the verge of an even bigger conflict? The media assess the situation.

A key position has become vacant in Ukraine following Andriy Yermak's resignation. Zelensky's chief of staff stepped down after six years in office in connection with the corruption scandal in the Ukrainian energy sector. His home was searched, but no charges have been brought against him so far. The media assess what the development means for the country and the negotiation process.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sent a letter via his lawyer to President Isaac Herzog asking for a pardon. In 2019 Netanyahu was charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust - and of having received luxury gifts to the value of 174,000 euros, including jewellery, cigars and champagne. He recently claimed that pardoning him would promote the "reconciliation our country so desperately needs".

To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Tuesday, the UN published a landmark report on femicide. It states that a woman or girl is killed by a family member or intimate partner every ten minutes. The numbers are gruesomely high and yet "only the tip of the iceberg" according to the report. Europe's press reflects.