Eurotopics.net

According to an ECB report published last week Bulgaria is not yet ready for accession to the Eurozone. Although the country fulfils the formal criteria it is lagging behind regarding so-called soft factors such as the independence of its central bank and success in the fight against corruption, the report concluded. Commentators explain why Bulgaria can forget its dream of Eurozone membership for the time being.

The unclear political situation in Italy is making the stock markets nervous. Shares plummeted on Tuesday while the euro exchange rate dropped considerably. Speculation is rife among the financial market experts of Europe's media about whether Italy will trigger a new financial crisis and whether former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi can save the day.

A fierce discussion has broken out in Europe's media over Italian President Sergio Mattarella's decision to reject Paolo Savona as finance minister. Some argue that he has saved Italy from a crash on the financial markets. Others fear that he has only put wind in the sails of the ever-stronger populists.

The Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, a known critic of the Kremlin, was shot dead in Kiev on Tuesday. Formerly a soldier in the Chechen war, Babchenko worked as a war reporter and opposed Russian intervention in Ukraine. Commentators examine the motives behind the murder.

In the effort to provide balanced commentary on the Middle East crisis, the Swiss daily Le Temps is publishing four very different points of view starting today - coinciding with missile attacks from Gaza against Israel. We publish excerpts from the first two texts.

Almost one-fifth (19.7 percent) of working-age Romanians live outside the country according to a 2017 Eurostat survey published on Tuesday. Romania thus tops the list of countries whose citizens are leaving to work abroad. The EU average is just 3.8 percent of a country's working-age population. Many of these migrants have left Romania for good, observers fear.