Eurotopics.net

The availability of the first vaccine doses and Britain's rapid approval are fueling debate across Europe as to how individual states can protect their populations from coronavirus as quickly and safely as possible. Many commentators talk of unnecessary delays, which they put down to political factors.

With 95 percent of the votes counted the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) has a narrow lead in Romania's parliamentary elections held on Sunday. Prime Minister Orban of the centrist National Liberal Party (PNL) wants to continue to govern the country, preferably with the eco-liberal party alliance USR-Plus. But he would still need a third partner. For commentators, this result comes as no surprise.

A fierce dispute has broken out between Ukraine and Hungary. In the run-up to Ukraine's local elections, Budapest's representative for the Hungarian minority in the country, István Gerzsa, visited the Hungarian party KMKSZ. Kiev protested, saying this was interference, and denied Gerzsa entry for his next visits. Orbán's Fidesz party has now accused Ukraine of trying to start a civil war. Journalists also level serious accusations.

Fifty years ago, Willy Brandt went on his knees in Warsaw in a gesture of humble apology towards the victims of Nazi crimes in Poland. The gesture was the prelude to a policy of reconciliation between Germany and Poland. Why do so many Poles take a critical view of the gesture?

The former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing has died of Covid-19, aged 94. In foreign policy, Giscard, who was in office from 1974 to 1981, did much to reconcile France and Germany. On the home front he was a moderniser who once announced: "The only thing that interests me is change". In the eyes of Europe's press, his track record in both areas is impressive.