Eurotopics.net

Representatives from around 170 countries have been attending a meeting in Geneva since Tuesday to discuss how to reduce the environmental impact of plastic waste. The last UN conference on the subject failed mainly due to resistance from oil-exporting countries. European commentators examine the options for an agreement.

Donald Trump now plans to negotiate an agreement on ending the Ukraine war personally and at the highest level - first of all at a summit meeting with Putin and then at a three-way meeting that includes Volodymyr Zelensky. This was the upshot of the "extremely productive" meeting between his special envoy Witkoff and Putin in the Kremlin on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the ten-day deadline Trump set for Russia to end the war expires on Friday.

The Japanese city of Hiroshima has commemorated the victims of the atomic bombing eighty years ago with the ringing of the Peace Bell and a minute's silence. Tens of thousands of people were killed when the US deployed a nuclear bomb as a war weapon for the first time. Against this backdrop, European commentators debate the dangers and the logic of deterrence.

Romania's first post-communist president Ion Iliescu died on 5 August aged 95, and will be buried in a state funeral today. He was under investigation for committing crimes against humanity during the 1989 revolution until recently. The national press gives conflicting accounts of his historical role.

The EU Commission has set a new climate protection target: a 90 percent reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions, compared to 1990 levels, by 2040. As of 2036, EU member states will be able to purchase up to three percentage points of their reduction target with credits from environmental projects in countries outside the EU. These "international credits" in particular are a source of controversy in Europe's press.