Eurotopics.net

It took several months for the vaccination campaigns against Covid-19 to get going in Europe due to vaccine shortages. But now a new problem is emerging: certain sections of the population are proving hard to reach or uninterested in the jab. Commentators look at the reasons.

With a large demonstration on 15 May 2011 and a protest camp on Madrid's central Puerta del Sol square in the weeks that followed, the 15-M movement was born in Spain ten years ago. Using grassroots democracy and plenty of creativity, the "outraged" (indignados) fought for social justice and against austerity measures, corruption and democratic deficits.

Despite still relatively high infection rates (the 7-day incidence rate on 14 May was 156), the strict lockdown in Greece has for the most part been lifted after around six months. The country also officially reopened its doors to tourists on Saturday. Greek media take stock of the general mood in the country.

April 22 is Earth Day. This year, several of the world's political heavyweights are making ambitious announcements. The EU wants to cut CO2 emissions by 55 percent instead of 40 percent compared to 1990 by 2030, and US President Joe Biden is hosting a climate summit with 40 heads of state and government to follow up on global emissions targets. In the view of Europe's press, however, far more must be done.

In view of the situation in Ukraine, but also Russia's political disputes with the EU and the US, there was much excitement about what Vladimir Putin would say in his annual state-of-the-nation address. However, no drastic decisions were announced; the main focus was on social and economic measures. Commentators have very different explanations for this.