Eurotopics.net

High prices for a spot on the beach have tensions running high in Greece. Around 300 people bearing towels and banners protested for the first time at the end of July on a beach on the island of Paros against operators of partly illegal beach bars filling up beaches with sun loungers and then charging people money to use them. Similar protests followed at other popular holiday resorts. The government has now announced plans to crack down on the rampant beach trade.

The EU has imposed a total of eleven sanctions packages against Russia since February 2022. Washington has also repeatedly expanded the list of Russian companies with which US firms are not allowed to trade. Europe's press looks at the impact of this policy from different angles.

In a week-long experiment, the German discount supermarket chain Penny is charging its customers "real prices" for food. These factor in the environmental costs in production. Nine products will be affected, making them for the most part twice as expensive as before. Commentators discuss how much sense it makes to suddenly charge six euros instead of three for sausages.

Thousands of people across Bulgaria have protested against violence against women. The demonstrations were triggered by a brutal attack on an 18-year-old girl and the mild sentence handed down to her aggressor. Although she had been cruelly abused by her ex-partner, a court classified the act as "slight bodily harm" and released the perpetrator.