Eurotopics.net

Just six months after its last prime minister took office Romania is getting a new prime minister: President Klaus Iohannis tasked MEP Vasilica Viorica Dancilă with forming a government on Wednesday. She is widely seen as a close confidante of PSD leader Liviu Dragnea - who was convicted for attempting to rig an election - and takes over from Mihai Tudose, who resigned in a dispute with Dragnea. Romania's media display resignation.

Two months before the Russian presidential elections a major row has broken out among the opposition. Critics are accusing opposition candidate Ksenia Sobchak of being a Kremlin pawn and others are criticising Alexei Navalny, who has been banned from running for election, for calling on people to boycott the elections. With the opposition in such disarray Putin needn't fear for his job, commentators agree.

Virtually all cryptocurrencies have experienced a double-digit dip in their prices this week. The bitcoin's value dropped by 25 percent. Observers are not surprised by this crash of the digital currencies and propose a way to stop the downwards trend.

The two major independence parties in Catalonia have agreed on a regional government to be led by Carles Puigdemont, who was removed from office in October and faces prison if he returns to Spain. His investiture is to take place via video conference. Is this a real solution or will it only add further fuel to the fire?

The Czechs will vote in the first round of the country's presidential election on Friday and Saturday. Leading the polls is incumbent Miloš Zeman - who favours maintaining Andrej Babiš as prime minister although the latter is facing fraud charges. In the event of a runoff vote, however, the former head of the Academy of Sciences Jiří Drahoš also stands a fair chance of winning. Czech and Slovakian journalists describe the mood in the country ahead of the vote.

Islands of plastic in the oceans and a Chinese import ban on waste are forcing Europe to take action. The EU Commission has raised the possibility of a plastic tax to limit the use of the ubiquitous material. Not all commentators agree that this is the right step.