Eurotopics.net

After 15 years of negotiations, the UN has agreed on protective measures for the world's oceans. Under the High Seas Treaty at least 30 percent of the world's ocean is to be put under protection by the end of the decade. Biodiversity in the high seas - in areas beyond state jurisdiction - is to be preserved by means of internationally binding measures. Commentators wonder whether this will be enough.

The weekend was marked by large demonstrations and also rioting in Athens, Thessaloniki and other Greek cities in reaction to a train crash in which 57 people were killed. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis initially blamed human error for the accident, but later apologised in a Facebook post for the dilapidated state of the railway.

After two five-year mandates, Czech President Miloš Zeman's term in office ends on Wednesday. Zeman, who was first a member of the Social Democratic Party but later switched to the centre-left Party of Civic Rights, was one of the defining figures in Prague after the Velvet Revolution of 1989, along with his predecessors Václav Havel and Václav Klaus. But in the commentaries there is not much mourning over his departure.

In the Republic of Moldova there have been several large demonstrations against the government's pro-Western policy. In particular, supporters of the pro-Russian ȘOR party are demanding neutrality regarding Russia's war against neighbouring Ukraine, as well as energy subsidies. Europe's press discusses how much of a threat Russian troops stationed in the breakaway region of Transnistria pose.

Just ten weeks before Turkey's presidential election, the Turkish opposition alliance split up on Friday due to disagreement over who should be its joint candidate. Five parties had previously agreed on CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, but İyi Party leader Meral Akşener has rejected his candidacy and is instead backing the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara, also members of the CHP. Commentators are appalled for different reasons.

Italy is still shaken by the deaths of 67 refugees who drowned off the coast of Calabria last weekend. According to the port authority they could have been rescued. The Italian press criticises both the authorities and the government in Rome, in particular Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and Matteo Salvini, Minister for Infrastructure. Europe's press points to an EU-wide failure.