Eurotopics.net

On International Refugee Day, celebrated on Tuesday, more than 65 million people were displaced worldwide. This dramatic and long-term situation must not be trivialised and reduced to a supposedly temporary state by the use of the term "crisis", commentators warn, and call on governments to take responsibility.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is to release its ruling on the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia next week. The Slovenian government has announced that it will abide by the ruling. Croatia, however, says it doesn't feel obliged to observe it. Zagreb would offend not just Slovenia if it doesn't, commentators warn.

Just under a year after the British voted to leave the EU the Brexit negotiations have begun in Brussels. Weakened after the general elections, the British government will be more open to a softer and more humane Brexit, commentators believe, putting their trust in the negotiators' bargaining skills.

The power struggle in Romania has entered a new round. The leadership of the ruling Social Democrats (PSD) under Liviu Dragnea submitted a no-confidence vote against its own head of government, Sorin Grindeanu. The vote is scheduled for this Wednesday. The Romanian press warns of the consequences of this bitter contest for power within the party.

"We don't want a majority to live a peaceful life, but to bring about reform", the spokesman for La République en Marche said on Monday, announcing the government's first steps. President Macron's social-liberal party is poised to gain an absolute majority in the National Assembly in the runoff vote on Sunday. Why are the French putting all their eggs in Macron's basket?

The political landscape in Kosovo appears to be undergoing rapid change after Sunday's parliamentary elections. The coalition of former UÇK rebels lost ten percentage points and leads only by a narrow margin, not large enough for a governing majority. Support for the left-nationalist party Vetevendosje, by contrast, doubled and it is now the second-strongest party. What do these results mean for the country and the Balkans?