Domestic Politics

The Communist Party has won municipal elections in Austria's second city, Graz, securing 29% of the vote. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz admitted that he was very surprised by this result. "The fact that the communists can win elections in Austria, albeit regional ones, should make you think," he said.

Germans woke up this morning to a changed political landscape. It is difficult to call it a political earthquake, but change is in the air, and the prospect that by Christmas the country will have a chancellor from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) is likely.

A delegation visiting Qatar from the European Parliament praised the country for its progress in labour reforms and also for its humanitarian efforts to help Afghan refugees. The MEPs met Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani and a number of other officials and civil society representatives over the last few days. 

After a long session that lasted eight hours on Monday (20 September), the Lebanese parliament gave a vote of confidence to the new Lebanese cabinet led by prime minister Najib Mikati. The session, in which 100 out of 128 members attended, was long and tiring for many yet nothing dramatic disturbed the proceedings. 

Kuwait will commence the first steps in a government restructuring plan in which some ministries will be merged while others will be abolished. The restructuring plan will stretch over the next four years and is aimed at changing the role of the government "from an operator to an organiser". 

Armenia is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its independence but whilst it has all the attributes of a modern state a lot of its institutions are hollow. There is much that can be done, and if it acts reasonably, Armenia can celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence in twenty years’ time in a much more positive atmosphere, writes Benyamin Poghosyan in this anniversary op-ed. 

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier speaking on the 60th anniversary of the day Berlin signed a migration deal with Ankara that allowed tens of thousands of Turkish citizens to find jobs in Germany said that "being German today can mean having grandparents from Cologne or Königsberg as well as from Istanbul and Diyarbakir". He said that German identity now includes "all those who want to live peacefully in this land of law and freedom."