Eurotopics.net

Over the past few days Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly professed his commitment to Europe, at the G20 summit and on other occasions. Turkey's future is in Europe, the Turkish president said, although in recent weeks he had repeatedly railed against European values and politicians. Commentators seek explanations for this change of tone.

Angela Merkel has led the German government for 15 years. She has survived numerous crises and sat through countless rounds of negotiations with innumerable European colleagues. Europe's press hails the 66-year-old as an anchor of stability for the EU who will be difficult to replace.

Paris and Berlin are at odds over Europe's future security policy. Both expect that even under Joe Biden the US will be less active internationally than in the past. But while French President Emmanuel Macron wants to invest in a sovereign Europe that can defend itself without the help of Nato and the United States, Germany's Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has said it would be an illusion to believe the continent could go it alone in security policy.

Reports from pharmaceutical companies about the effectiveness of their Covid vaccines are fuelling hopes that the pandemic could end in the near future. But many questions remain unanswered, especially those dealing with how vaccines can be distributed fairly around the world. The media are at odds over whether the market should call the shots, or whether world health is a matter that transcends the economic success of manufacturers.

MEPs have introduced the idea of circumventing Poland's and Hungary's veto of the rule of law mechanism and quickly disbursing coronavirus aid: The "enhanced cooperation" provided for in the EU treaties could take effect with regard to coronavirus funding if a smaller group of EU members joins forces in favour of it. Will the veto be a fiasco for Budapest and Warsaw?