Eurotopics.net

The protest against the planned pension reform in Russia shows no sign of abating. Thousands of people demonstrated in several cities on the weekend despite a ban. The jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny had called for marches to be held on Saturday, when regional elections were set to take place. Is a storm brewing in Russia?

The majority situation in the Swedish parliament is very close after the general election. The Social Democrats remain the strongest party, but with 28.4 percent of the vote had their worst results since 1911. The conservative Moderate Party came second and the nationalist far right Sweden Democrats came third garnering, 17.6 percent - less than had been expected. What lessons should the established parties learn from the results?

The Syrian regime and Russia have carried out intense airstrikes against the last major rebel stronghold in the province of Idlib. The UN has warned that the operation could result in a humanitarian catastrophe in view of the roughly three million civilians living in the province. Commentators explain the interests of Assad, Russia, Europe and Turkey in what looks set to be the last battle in the war.

The EU Parliament will once again debate a reform aimed at bringing copyright into line with the Internet era on Wednesday. Under the reform instead of the controversial upload filters licences would be introduced for certain content, which platforms like Google News would have to purchase before posting the content online. Commentators' reactions to the reform initiative are for the most part positive.