Ukrainian president Oleksandr Turchynov declared earlier this weak that a full-scale operation will be launched to regain control over Eastern Ukraine. Later, the same man announced a date for a referendum in Eastern Ukraine. Others are talking about UN peacekeepers coming in. This contradictory flip-flopping indicated the insoluble mess the Ukrainian authorities have got themselves into.

With the upcoming European elections on 22nd May, we publish here an analysis of the European Union and the euro crisis by Claudio Bellotti – member of the National Executive of Rifondazione Comunista in Italy and member of the editorial board of Falce Martello, the paper of the Italian Marxists – which examines the limitations of the pro-EU position put forward by the left reformists across Europe.

In the recent municipal elections in France the right wing did well, mainly at the expense of the Socialist Party, which pays a heavy price for carrying out draconian austerity measures at national level. Here we publish an article by Jérôme Métellus, a member of the Communist Party in Paris and also of the Editorial Board of La Riposte, the journal of the Marxist wing of the Communist Party.