Eurotopics.net

The government in Paris wants to buy 15 high-speed TGV trains to prevent the partial closure of the Alstom plant in the eastern French city of Belfort - and the loss of 400 jobs. The French train operator SNCF has indicated it has no need for the trains. Can the Belfort plant be saved? French commentators take opposing views of the crisis.

With strong words about the Treaty of Lausanne Erdoğan not only called into question his country's founding myth but also its borders with Greece: the Turkish president described the 1923 treaty which defines the borders of modern Turkey as humiliating and lamented that it gave away Aegean islands to Greece. Is he just trying to provoke a reaction?

Viktor Orbán has described the referendum on refugee quotas as an "overwhelming victory" despite the low voter turnout. 98 percent of those who voted cast their ballot against the EU quota system but only 44 percent of those entitled to vote took part. 50 percent were required for the referendum to be valid. Journalists in Europe discuss whether Orbán is weakened or strengthened by the result.

Thousands of people in Poland have protested against a total ban on abortion. Dressed all in black they took to the streets on Monday to demonstrate against the national conservative PiS government's planned ban. Commentators believe this could be the start of a major wave of protests.

In a referendum held on Sunday a narrow majority of Colombians rejected a peace deal with the Farc rebels. 50.2 percent voted against the agreement that was to end decades of civil war-like circumstances in the country. Is this the end of Colombia's peace process?

In view of the unabated violence in Syria the tone on the international diplomatic stage is growing harsher: Merkel and Obama have condemned the airstrikes on Aleppo, describing them as "barbaric" and UN representatives have accused the Syrian army and its allies of committing war crimes. But why is the West still doing nothing to end the war?