Eurotopics.net

Around three and a half million refugees, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, are currently in Turkey. Many live in precarious conditions as a result of the country's fragmentary integration policy. In view of rising inflation and the economic crisis, the vast majority of political camps have adopted a harsher tone. Commentators criticise the rise of xenophobia.

Emmanuel Macron has been re-elected as French president. With 58.55 percent in the runoff vote he had a clear lead over his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen (41.45 percent), but the gap narrowed compared to five years ago. Europe's press comments on the results, also with a view to the upcoming French parliamentary elections in June.

Vladimir Putin regularly attends Orthodox Church ceremonies on religious holidays, however he has rejected calls for a pause in the fighting in Ukraine over Orthodox Easter on 24 April. The ecumenical patriarch of all the self-governing Eastern Orthodox churches, Bartholomew I of Constantinople, has repeatedly called for an immediate end to the invasion. Europe's press comments on this Easter celebrated as war rages.

Against the backdrop of the rapidly deteriorating situation in eastern Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has promised financial support but not the heavy weapons demanded by Kyiv. Like several other voices in the German press, he fears that weapons deliveries could further escalate the conflict. Europe's press for the most part finds this approach too hesitant.