Elections

Romania’s presidential candidate Nicușor Dan won the country’s presidential election on Sunday, defeating his nationalist rival George Simion. With all votes counted, the centrist candidate won nearly 54% of the ballots cast, a clear win over Simion, a supporter of US President Donald Trump. Simion, who opposes providing military aid to Ukraine and is critical of the EU, looked on track to win the election after he swept the first round on 4 May. However, Dan gained ground after a televised debate with Simion.

The Catholic Church has a new leader. Robert Prevost was not discussed by the media before being announced as the new Pope on Friday. He will follow the Church’s mantra, that has served it well over two thousand years, to be as flexible as necessary and as rigid as possible Europe has fresh energy in the person of the new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz. Despite the wobbly start in the German Parliament, Merz in the four days after his swearing-in met key European leaders, and laid the basis for his Chancellorship. Meanwhile, Donald Trump statements continue to hanker for the past. His call for the re-opening of the prison on Alcatraz is a case in point. Trump marks the end of the “American era”. The US will remain a rich and powerful country, but its global role will be much diminished.