Eurotopics.net

The figurehead of the French right is facing five years in prison and a ban from politics. The public prosecutor's office has accused Marine Le Pen and other party leaders of the former Front National of using EU funds to employ staff who worked directly in France on party affairs between 2004 and 2016 - which constitutes embezzlement of EU funds. A litmus test for the polarised French public.

After the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine agreed to the withdrawal of Soviet nuclear weapons when it signed the Budapest Memorandum. In return, it received security guarantees that now prove worthless. According to reports in the British newspaper The Times, an investigation commissioned by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence has come to the conclusion that Ukraine could develop nuclear bombs within months. The press is divided.

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, and opposition politicians Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who were released from Russian custody in a prisoner exchange at the beginning of August, have organised a rally against the Russian regime and the war in Ukraine for this Sunday in Berlin. Commentators living in exile explain why demonstrations by anti-Putinists outside Russia are important.

Pro-Palestinian rioters hunted down and attacked Israeli fans after a football match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv last week. Europe's press sees the violence as evidence of an antisemitic trend. But it also finds the reactions to the incidents worrying.

Elon Musk has been chosen to head the newly created Department of Government Efficiency under Donald Trump. The advisory body will help the next US administration in its fight against 'redundant' regulations and 'wasteful' spending, as well as in the restructuring of federal agencies, Trump announced on Tuesday. Europe's press finds the appointment problematic for several reasons.