Eurotopics.net

The Spanish media are speculating on whether Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's People's Party (PP) will be able to stay in government. In the country's biggest corruption scandal in four decades, the so-called Gürtel case, Spain's High Court has ordered the party to pay a fine and given a number of party functionaries long prison sentences. The fact that Rajoy always played down the importance of the affair makes this judgement particularly explosive.

In a bid to secure more state support a group of parents of disabled children has been staging a sit-in at the Polish parliament for the past five weeks. A parents who cares for a disabled child receives 350 euros per month until the child reaches 18, after which the government support ends. The government is refusing to give in to demands for more funds, citing limited financial resources. Poland's press is divided over the issue.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect in the EU on Friday. It is meant to standardise data privacy in the EU and strengthen consumer rights - particularly in regard to US companies. While some commentators see the EU as a pioneer in data privacy, others say the regulation could end up hurting those it is meant to protect.

Italy's President Sergio Mattarella has tasked Giuseppe Conte, a jurist with little experience in politics, with forming a government, freeing the way for the future prime minister to form a cabinet made up of ministers from anti-EU parties the Five Star Movement and the Northern League. Commentators speculate on the impact of this decision for Europe.

154 economists have warned in a joint article against further integration of the Eurozone as proposed by Macron, Juncker and in the Berlin coalition government agreement. They criticise the planned introduction of a European monetary and investment fund and fear that money could be paid to countries that have failed to undertake reforms. Are they right to oppose the reform proposals?

Turkey's central bank has reacted to the drop in the value of the lira by raising key interest rates. The Turkish currency had already lost roughly a quarter of its value since the start of the year when it came under additional pressure on Wednesday morning after Japanese investors divested en masse. What are the factors behind the slump?