Eurotopics.net

The Italian anarchist Alfredo Cospito is serving a 20-year prison term for a foiled bomb attack on a police school and a gun attack on a company manager. Since May 2022 he has been held in solitary confinement under Article 41bis of the Italian Criminal Code, which many legal experts argue should be abolished because the conditions are tantamount to torture. After more than three months on a hunger strike, Cospito has now been transferred to the hospital section of Milan jail.

Based on a citizen's proposal, the Danish Health Minister Sophie Løhde has proposed introducing an opt-out system for organ donation in Denmark. According to the plan, everyone over 18 would automatically become an organ donor unless they actively opt out of donation. Currently the country has an opt-in system in which potential donors must have given their consent while they were alive, or relatives make the decision in the event of their death. Commentators are sceptical.

Turkey's President Erdoğan has said he can imagine agreeing to Finland joining Nato but remains tough on Sweden. "If necessary, we can give a different answer regarding Finland," he said. Relations between Sweden and Turkey have further deteriorated after a protester burned a copy of the Koran in Stockholm. Commentators speculate on what Erdoğan's intentions are and discuss how to react.

The six-party alliance that will run against Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the presidential election in May has presented its election programme. Its main goal is to change the current presidential system back to a parliamentary one. Among other things, the president is to hold office for a maximum of seven years, have fewer veto rights in parliament and no longer be allowed to issue decrees. A mixed response in the press.

The UK's exit from the EU became effective on 31 January 2020. Commentators take stock three years on.