Eurotopics.net

The campaigns for the European Parliament elections are heating up. Parties are presenting their candidates and publishing their programmes. Forecasts see the Eurosceptics making gains and the established parties losing a substantial number of seats. Whether the British will take part is still unclear. Most commentators focus on their own countries, but some look further afield.

After winning a sweeping victory with 73 percent of the vote in Ukraine's presidential election Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that as president he will fight corruption and seek a peaceful end to the conflict in Donbass. Zelensky is politically inexperienced and made a name for himself as an actor in a comedy series. Commentators have mixed feelings about his election victory.

FPÖ politician Christian Schilcher has resigned from his party and as deputy mayor of the Austrian city of Braunau amid a scandal over a xenophobic text. He had published a poem entitled "The City Rat" in the local party paper in which he compared migrants with rats. Is the FPÖ fit to be part of the Austrian government?

The EU member states have granted Britain a new extension until the end of October for Brexit. The majority wanted to extend the deadline until the end of the year but Paris insisted that the delay had to be as short as possible to avoid harming the functioning of the EU. Is the decision a relief or will it only prolong the torment of the Brexit drama?

Following parliamentary elections in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative Likud party and its right-wing and religious coalition partners have won a majority of seats in the Knesset, prevailing against challenger Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White alliance. The Israeli prime minister is facing charges in three cases of corruption, however. Commentators explain Netanyahu's latest election victory.