The far-right party Sweden Democrats (SD, by its acronym in Swedish) could be closer than ever to governing. For the first time, all the formations of the country's right-wing bloc are open to the party being part of a possible coalition of government if they obtain enough support in this Sunday's parliamentary elections. The cordon sanitaire that Sweden had also defended has been definitively broken, and the SD is now considered a perfectly legitimate party to be part of the conservative bloc, which aspires to remain in power for four more years.

The elections in Saxony-Anhalt, a small state in eastern Germany, have managed to exceptionally shake up politics across the entire country. A detailed analysis of the result allows for an X-ray of the profile of voters for Alternative for Germany (AfD), which took 43.8% of the total votes, double that of the 2021 elections. We review the keys to a historic election day that could mark the path for the upcoming elections in Germany.

The overwhelming victory of Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Saxony-Anhalt represents a lesson for the Berlin government and, more directly, for the CDU, the traditional German conservative party, which leads the governing coalition at the federal level. "We are deeply shocked; we did not expect this," admitted the Chancellor and CDU leader, Friedrich Merz, in a press conference after meeting with the party's leadership. The Christian Democrats, who had been governing this small state for 25 years, have renounced attempting to form a government after losing 20% of the support they received in the previous regional elections. "We no longer have a mandate to form a government; the AfD has it," said the Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt and the Christian Democrats' candidate, Sven Schulze.

The far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has swept the elections in the eastern federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, where it has remained at the gates of an absolute majority. The AfD has obtained 43.8% of the votes, more than double that of 2021 (20.8%) and only three seats away from being able to govern alone.

"Europeans are facing a harsh truth: that this is the new normal." This sentence from the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, brings to mind that "new normal" of restrictions on individual freedom in favor of public health to which we had to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement, however, is not from six years ago, but from this week. Now, the new normal to which we must get used to is that of systematic attacks by Russia. "We are in a new era of European security," insisted the leader of the EU executive. The message arrived after German authorities directly blamed Moscow for an attack with an explosives-laden drone at Leipzig airport at the beginning of August, one of the most serious sabotage attempts recorded so far on European territory, at a key NATO logistics center.

The first photo I have on my phone's roll from the trip to Georgia is of a khachapuri. The second, of a khinkali. Two names that will quickly integrate into your vocabulary if you visit this corner of the Caucasus; there can't be many restaurants whose menus don't offer the two great emblems of this small country's gastronomy. Georgian cuisine, which used to be considered the best in the Soviet Union, is one of the country's heritages and a key element of its identity. Always with the permission of wine, the true reason for Georgians' pride, who claim to be its inventors. Georgia is a gastronomic and wine jewel; a treasure (still quite preserved and untamed) for lovers of nature and mountaineering; a must for fans of Soviet architecture and urbex. The "beautiful homeland of Stalin", as American journalist Robert D. Kaplan called it in The Revenge of Geography, enjoys (or suffers) a key strategic position, where Europe and Asia meet; "where Russia ends and the Middle East begins", as Kaplan summarizes in the book, which is a good resource for imagining what this turbulent area of the world was like during the post-Soviet chaos. Georgia has a colossal natural border to the north: the majestic peaks of the Greater Caucasus, with Russia on the other side. To the west, the Black Sea; to the south, Turkey and Armenia, and to the east, Azerbaijan.

The Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, has returned from vacation with a surprising move: a joint statement with her Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, in which both position themselves as the bulwark not only of security in Europe against the "undeniable" dangers of illegal immigration, but also of the traditional Christian values of the Old Continent. Someone unfamiliar with Scandinavian politics might deduce that Denmark's leader is part of an far-right or, at the very least, conservative party. "We are proud of Europe's Christian cultural heritage and we want to protect it. We hope that those who come to our countries and decide to make Europe their home will respect our values and not try to impose a way of life on us that we do not want." A message that could have perfectly come from the mouth of Viktor Orbán, Marine Le Pen, Santiago Abascal, or, indeed, Giorgia Meloni. But it turns out that Mette Frederiksen is a social democrat; one of the few progressive leaders governing in Europe, at least on paper.

Giorgia Meloni and Mette Frederiksen, two European prime ministers seemingly at political antipodes, are showcasing their common front against "uncontrolled immigration" in the European Union in a joint message released this Monday on social media, in which they call for a tougher stance and advocate for the creation of repatriation centers in third countries. The two leaders emphasize that they have led a strict migratory policy, both in their countries and across Europe, with the argument that "no one can deny that illegal immigration has a negative impact" on European societies: "Increased crime rates, increased pressure on public services, and erosion of public trust."

A few pallets serve as a stage; there is a microphone stand in the center. The speaker is Aleksandr Lukashenko, addressing thousands of migrants stranded at the border between Belarus and Poland: "If you want to go west, we will not stop you, we will not strangle you, nor will we beat you." They applaud him. "It is up to you. Go ahead. Go there," insists the Belarusian president. The scene is not new; it is almost five years old, but it continues to be highlighted as one of the most obvious cases of the instrumentalization of migration as part of the so-called hybrid war against the European Union. The use of migrants as a weapon to achieve political objectives has intensified in Europe following Russia's war against Ukraine and also due to the growth of anti-immigration discourse, which makes this strategy increasingly attractive to actors seeking to exert pressure.

After days of tension and division between Spain and some member states over the migratory crisis in Ceuta, the extraordinary meeting of Interior ministers held this Tuesday has served to stage a general change of stance, at least outwardly. After an initial reaction from several partners blaming Spain and its migration policies for putting EU borders at risk, the message now is that the Twenty-Seven are "united" in supporting Pedro Sánchez's government. This includes Italy, the most belligerent country, which has even temporarily tightened border controls with Spain.

Researcher Irene Fernández Molina is a specialist in the Maghreb, the foreign policy of the European Union, and Euro-Mediterranean relations. Hours after the migratory crisis in Ceuta, we analyze with her what motives may be behind it and what consequences it may have on a European scale.

In 2019, Sanna Marin was 34 years old when she became prime minister of Finland. She immediately gained unusual popularity for a Finnish head of government. But she was the world's youngest prime minister and, moreover, she was a woman. During her first months in office, the social democrat had to lead the response to the covid pandemic. And then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a conflict that in Finland was experienced as a threat from the past that was resurfacing. The war caused a historic paradigm shift: Finland abandoned its policy of non-alignment and joined NATO.

Péter Magyar took the helm of Hungary's government on May 9 and has not eased up on the accelerator since then, aiming to leave the autocratic regime built by Viktor Orbán over the last sixteen years behind as quickly as possible, to leave the autocratic regime behind as quickly as possible. The prime minister has christened this democratic transition operation with the name purifying fire, whose top priority is to dismiss Fidesz loyalists holding public office who could hinder the process of reconstructing the rule of law. The first to fall has been the country's president, Tamás Sulyok, whom Magyar described as Orbán's "puppet." This express democratization process has further boosted the popularity of the new government, but it has also raised eyebrows among some organizations and analysts who warn of the risk of overdoing it and falling into the same trap of power concentration as the previous regime.

"Drapati! Drapati! Drapati!" This name has been heard often in recent days' protests in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, that of who, as of a few hours ago, is the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Mikhailo Drapati. Since last week, many Ukrainians have taken to the streets daily to protest the dismissal of the Minister of Defense, Mikhailo Fédorov, a decision with which Volodymyr Zelensky sided with the old military guard to the detriment of younger voices with an initiative for change. The Ukrainian president chose to dismiss Fédorov and keep the commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Sirski. But on Tuesday night, after six days of demonstrations, he announced Sirski's dismissal and Drapati's appointment as his replacement, responding to the proclamations in the streets.

The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, announced late Tuesday the resignation of the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Oleksandr Sirski, and the appointment, in his place, of Mykhailo Draparti, who until now led the joint forces of the army. The move comes after six days of protests in several cities of the country for the dismissal of the Minister of Defense, Mykhailo Fedorov, who had clashed with the general over the strategy to follow in the war against Russia.

"What has been happening here since 2010 is something that Goebbels and the North Korean regime would admire." In this way, Péter Magyar practically appeared for the first time on Hungarian public television, three days after becoming the country's prime minister-elect in a landslide victory that buried Viktor Orbán's era. "It is strange that the last time I appeared in public media was a year and a half ago", he added. It was September 2024, three months after Magyar's party, Tisza, won the European Parliament elections.

Two powerful earthquakes, separated by just 39 seconds, have shaken Venezuela and caused a tragedy of great proportions. The victim toll is still very provisional, with 235 deaths and 4,300 injuries confirmed by the country's government, but it is feared that the figure will increase considerably in the coming hours, as rescue teams can clear the enormous amount of rubble accumulated by the collapse of buildings.

The journalist Claudi Pérez, international correspondent for El País, publishes the book Las invasiones bárbaras, a mix between an essay and journalistic chronicle about the crises that have shaken the world during the first quarter of this century, with a special focus on Europe and its role in the new international order.

Donald Trump appeared triumphantly on the stage of the G-7 summit in the French city of Évian. In the closing press conference, he stated that, with the memorandum of understanding agreed with Iran, the United States had achieved "everything they had set out to do and much more." As usual, he boasted that the U.S. military is the most powerful in the world and assured that they could have continued bombing Iran for weeks or even years, but that he stopped it to avoid "an economic catastrophe." Hours later, he signed the agreement in a solemn place: the Palace of Versailles. In front of the host, Emmanuel Macron, and some cameras, Trump stamped his signature on the document on the table of the state banquet that the French president had offered in his honor. In theory, the agreement was to be signed this Friday in Switzerland, but at this time it is unknown if Trump will do it, if his vice president Vance will go, and if Iran will send someone of importance. What is certain, however, is that Trump has already signed it.

The United States and Iran have finally closed a deal that provides for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the cessation of military operations in the region. The first to announce the pact was Pakistan, which is acting as mediator, and then it was confirmed by the US President, Donald Trump, and the Iranian regime.