Eurotopics.net

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will meet for a first bilateral summit on July 16 in Helsinki. On the agenda are arms control and the situation in Syria and Ukraine, among other topics. In the run-up to the Nato summit Trump commented that the meeting with Putin might be easier than that with his Nato allies. Journalists ask what to expect from the encounter.

Eight months after the elections, Czech members of parliament have given their approval to a minority government headed by billionaire Andrej Babiš. The cabinet comprising members of the populist Ano party and the Social Democrats will be supported by the Communists, giving them a hand in government for the first time since 1989. What does their comeback in the Czech Republic portend?

Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, is discussing restricting access for media representatives following inappropriate behaviour on the part of two journalists, with one of them making an obscene gesture to a photographer. The Rada has long been looking for an excuse to hamper the activities of the press in the parliament, commentators criticise.

Only after the intervention of Italian President Sergio Mattarella has Interior Minister Matteo Salvini allowed 67 refugees who had been rescued by the Italian coast guard to set foot on Italian soil. Salvini had initially blocked the ship's access to a port in Sicily and then prevented the men on board from leaving the vessel. What is Salvini trying to achieve?

The EU Parliament has rejected controversial plans for a reform of Internet copyright laws that would introduce compulsory upload filters. In a plenary session the parliament voted by a thin majority against presenting the bill to the member states. Commentators discuss the pros and cons of the reform and see it as a ray of hope for European policy that the topic has drawn so much attention.

Two more British citizens have been found unconscious after being exposed to the nerve agent Novichok. According to British police they had come into contact with a "contaminated object". Journalists speculate on whether the object was a left-over from the Skripal case or whether the Russian - or British - secret service had a hand in the poisoning.