Eurotopics.net

Eight months after the elections a second government under billionaire Andrej Babiš has been sworn in in Prague. The cabinet comprising members from the liberal Ano and the Social Democratic Party relies on the backing of the Communist Party. Commentators feel reminded of the past.

In an expedited procedure Poland has watered down a controversial law that made the claim that the Polish state or Polish citizens were perpetrators in the Holocaust a punishable offence. Prison sentences will no longer apply. Israel was particularly vocal in its condemnation of the law. Commentators are at odds over whether it's a good idea to punish certain interpretations of history.

The western Balkan states have waited a long time for for accession negotiations with the EU. Now two more have been given a green light: Albania and Macedonia will be invited for talks starting 2019. But their path to EU membership will be long and stony, commentators predict.

Harley-Davidson wants to shift part of its motorbike production overseas to avoid having to raise prices for customers in Europe due to the EU's retaliatory tariffs on US goods. A bitter setback for Trump in the trade war with the EU?

The justice committee of the EU parliament on Monday voted to launch a rule of law procedure against Hungary. This threatens to strip the country of its EU voting rights on the grounds of grave violations of European values. The regime-friendly Hungarian press smell a conspiracy.

Poland had to answer to the foreign ministers of the other EU states for the first time on Tuesday about its judicial reform. The hearing was part of the procedure initiated by the EU Commission against the government in Warsaw. Commentators describe the conundrum that this represents for the EU.