At the time of writing, Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico is stable but remains in a serious condition after being shot at close range by a member of the public yesterday.

Fico is of course a controversial figure, as this profile of his career details. But an assassination attempt against a European leader is a dangerous and destabilising event and this incident has been a reminder of how polarised politics benefits no one. We’ll be covering more on this story as it evolves.

Even before the events in Slovakia, Europe was dealing with a difficult week. The Russian offensive in north-east Ukraine is intensifying, and allies need to decide what to do next. But Richard Youngs, professor of international and European politics at the UK’s University of Warwick, argues that the EU is too reactive on Ukraine – jolted into a response by events rather than taking a more strategic, joined-up approach. He calls for a new post-war identity to be developed from Brussels, combining geopolitical reality with the EU’s core liberal values.

At the beginning of the war, many European nations took in Ukrainian refugees in a wave of solidarity. And while intentions were good across the board, a study of how two German newspapers) write about Ukrainian women reveals how potentially harmful stereotypes about them have emerged. Reporting focuses on how ‘useful’, ‘helpful’ and ‘grateful’ these refugees are. Portrayals of this kind might seem kind — and even celebratory — on the surface, but they ultimately convey troubling messages about what it takes to be deserving of help and shelter.

Millions of European citizens will vote to elect members of the European Parliament next month, but it’s not unrealistic to say that a lot of them will do so without a clear idea of what they are voting for. What does the European Union do for ordinary people? It’s a fair question, and one that was put to Joseba K. Fernández Gaztea by a non-European friend recently. His answer, in summary, was ‘it does an awful lot’ — so he wrote down a list to summarise it all for his friend (and Conversation readers).