Eurotopics.net

Belgium's State Secretary for Asylum Nicole de Moor has announced that male asylum seekers without relatives in Belgium will no longer be allowed to live in state-run accommodation for asylum seekers. The rare places in such accommodation will be reserved for families with children, she explained, adding that the men must find their own accommodation or use emergency shelters for the homeless. The move has triggered outrage in the national press.

Former Slovak foreign minister Ivan Korčok has announced his candidacy for the post of President of Slovakia. Korčok adheres to the pro-Western course of Zuzana Čaputová, who has declined to run for re-election. The Slovaks elect a new president in spring 2024, but the parliamentary election will be held on 30 September, and in this election pro-Russian ex-prime minister Robert Fico could make a comeback.

EU Council President Charles Michel has caused a stir at a conference in Slovenia by saying that the EU must set itself the goal of taking in new members by 2030. This would require rapid reforms in the candidate countries, but also in the EU and its decision-making processes, he stressed. Commentators are at odds about how realistic - or desirable - this goal is.

Farewell in a very small circle: while Russia was still debating what honours Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was once given a "Hero of Russia" award, should receive, and whether Putin himself would attend his funeral, the Wagner boss killed in a mysterious plane crash has been buried in a small cemetery in St. Petersburg. Europe's press comments.