Turkish, French, German and British leaders met by videoconference Tuesday to commit themselves to joint actions on the Syrian refugee crisis and coronavirus pandemic.The last-minute conference due to the COVID-19 outbreak replaced an Istanbul summit between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.  “We have the opportunity to undertake comprehensive assessments on many issues up, from EU-Turkey relations to the asylum issues,” tweeted Erdogan after the meeting.Few details on the nature of the cooperation agreed between the leaders have been released.The video summit is in response to Erdogan sparking a crisis by opening Turkish frontiers with European Union members to migrants and refugees living in Turkey. Turkey hosts nearly 4 million Syrians and Erdogan insists his country can no longer cope.In 2015, Ankara made a similar move, resulting in more than one million people fleeing to neighboring Greece and Bulgaria, sparking a refugee crisis across Europe.  The exodus spurred the EU’s agreement on a 2016 migration deal with Turkey. Ankara then secured its borders, markedly curtailing migrants entering Europe.The threat of a new refugee exodus into Europe is widely seen as Erdogan’s most important leverage over the European leaders.”In the past, Europe panicked, especially Germany, with the threat of Turkey opening its borders to refugees, and they tried to appease Turkey,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners.However, both Greece and Bulgaria, strongly backed by Brussels, robustly resisted the latest mass movement of migrants into their countries, following Erdogan opening Turkey’s borders.Greek Army soldiers detain a group of migrants that crossed from Turkey to Greece, near the village of Protoklisi, in the region of Evros, Greece, March 10, 2020.Erdogan described Greek border forces’ tactics as “Nazi-like.” On Tuesday, New York-based Human Rights Watch also condemned Greek methods employed to stop migrants from entering Greece.”The European Union is hiding behind a shield of Greek security force abuse instead of helping Greece protect asylum-seekers and relocate them safely throughout the EU,” said Nadia Hardman, a refugee rights researcher of Human Rights Watch. “The EU should protect people in need rather than support forces who beat, rob, strip and dump asylum-seekers and migrants back across the river.”While drawing international condemnation, Athens’ success in securing its borders and restricting the numbers of migrants entering Greece appear to have weakened Ankara’s leverage over Brussels.”Turkish President Erdogan was threatening all these years to release these refugees to the EU, and finally he did. But it was a fiasco,” said political scientist Cengiz Aktar of the University of Athens. “He used his trump card in his hand, and it failed. The Greeks reacted, the EU reacted, and at the end of the day, has shown a firm stance towards Erdogan.”  Earlier this month, Erdogan left Brussels empty-handed after meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Charles Michel, president of the European Council.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 2nd left, meets with European Council President Charles Michel, right, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, 2nd right, at the European Council building in Brussels, Belgium, March 9, 2020.Erdogan is pressing the EU to not only pay out what he claims is an outstanding 3 billion euros owed from the 2016 migrant deal, but also further funding going forward. With a slowing economy, compounded by escalating costs of the coronavirus, analysts say Ankara is in urgent need of funds.With reports of migrants ending their bid to enter EU countries and returning to Turkish cities, Brussels is predicted to provide further funding.  “The tension is dying down. We understand there are less and less people at the [Greek] border,” said Aktar. “Following [Tuesday’s] video meeting, the EU might come up with funding, but not now. Maybe further down the road, with 1 or 2 billion [euros] later this year.”Analysts suggest Erdogan’s main priority is to avert a new wave of Syrian refugees. Damascus forces are threatening to overrun Idlib, the last rebel-controlled province.  A tentative cease-fire was hammered out between Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month. But the deal is widely seen as only offering a temporary respite for the estimated 4 million people trapped in Idlib.”Cease-fires with Russian guarantees have not been cease-fires,” U.S. Ambassador to Turkey David Satterfield said in a telephone briefing in March. “They were temporary, transactional halts until Russia was prepared to renew the campaign.”Syrians climb on a Turkish tank in Neyrab, March 15, 2020, as they protest agreement on joint Turkish and Russian patrols in northwest Syria.Erdogan is using the cease-fire to build support from critical European NATO members for his proposal of a haven in Idlib.  In a gesture to Ankara, Merkel has voiced support that a haven preventing a new refugee exodus is of critical importance to Erdogan.”If they [the Syrian refugees] can’t go back, they’ll move on to Turkey, exacerbating AKP’s problems with voters,” Yesilada said. “Survey after survey reveals that the Turks blame Syrian refugees for unemployment and social frictions.”  Analysts point out that there is little appetite among NATO members to confront Russian forces based in Syria. But with Europe and Ankara increasingly focused on addressing the coronavirus crisis, analysts predict all sides will be perceptive to a compromise over the refugee crisis, especially given the dangers such vulnerable people face by the pandemic.”The pandemic is an absolute priority for everyone. This additional 1 or 2 billion euros the EU might give could well be directed towards helping Turkey for its refugees within the framework of the fight against the pandemic.” 
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has set April 22 for a nationwide referendum on constitutional amendments that would allow him to remain in power until at least 2036. Putin signed a decree Tuesday, a day after the country’s Constitutional Court approved the amendments. The controversial amendments last week had passed both chambers of the national parliament and were backed by all Russian regions. The amendments would reset the count on Putin’s presidential terms to zero. The court had rejected a similar attempt to change the constitution in 1998 during then-President Boris Yeltsin’s second term. The Central Election Commission said the vote would be postponed if the coronavirus outbreak affected too many people. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Russian Federation rose to 114 Tuesday, but no deaths have been reported. Putin is currently required to step down in 2024 when his fourth presidential term ends. He avoided the two-term limit by serving as prime minister from 2008 to 2012, between his second and third terms as president. The amendments, if passed, would allow him to run for the next two six-year terms. Putin has ruled Russia either as president or prime minister since 1999. 
 
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The bells are tolling in the villages of the north Italian region of Lombardy, registering yet another coronavirus death.  North Italy has suffered epidemics before, albeit much more deadly contagions in the 17th and 18th centuries, which left more than 300,000 dead. But Italians never thought they would encounter again a contagion powerful enough to test their country to its limits.Opinion polls suggest that more than 60% of Italians approve of the government lockdown. But cooped up in their homes for a second week, Italians are wondering how many more times the bells will toll sounare a morto (song of death). And how long the country will remain at a standstill because of a virus that first appeared nearly 9,000 kilometers away in a Chinese city most had never heard of.  Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte speaks during a news conference due to coronavirus spread, in Rome, Italy, March 11, 2020.The Italian government, like its pre-industrial forerunners, has turned to the use of quarantines, first used by Venice in the 14th century to protect itself from plague epidemics.  Quarantining was at the heart of a disease-abatement strategy that included isolation, sanitary cordons and extreme social regulation of the population. Without a vaccine — or as yet effective pharmaceutical therapy for those who suffer severe illness — there’s not much else to do, as Italy’s neighbors and the United States are also discovering.  Hand-painted banners with the slogan, “Everything will be alright,” have started to appear in Italian cities. But many worry about the likely duration of the war against an invisible killer, and what the long-term consequences will be for their livelihoods and their country.  They aren’t the only ones in Europe asking the same questions.As scary, surreal and disruptive as it is now, the long-term political and economic consequences of the biggest public health challenge the continent has faced since the 1918 Spanish flu are likely to be huge.FILE – Influenza victims crowd into an emergency hospital near Fort Riley, Kansas in 1918, when the Spanish flu pandemic killed at least 20 million people worldwide.Aside from quarantining, the past also has some possible lessons for Europe about how infectious diseases can leave a long-term imprint, say historians. They say plagues and pestilence have reshaped countries before, changing politics, contributing to instability, retarding economic development and altering social relations.“Plague caused a shock to the economy of the Italian peninsula that might have been key in starting its relative decline compared with the emerging northern European countries,” noted Italian historian Guido Alfani in an academic paper on the impact of the 17th century plague.In England, the long-term effects of the medieval Black Death were devastating and far-reaching, according to historian Tom James, with “agriculture, religion, economics and even social class affected. Medieval Britain was irreversibly changed,” he wrote in a 2017 commentary for the BBC. Historians say it reordered England’s social order by hastening the end of feudalism.The Spanish flu epidemic, which killed tens of millions of people worldwide, including 500,000 Americans, affected the course of history — it may have contributed to the Western allies winning World War I, say some historians. German General Erich Ludendorff thought so, arguing years later that influenza had robbed him of victory.  And it even affected the peace, argued British journalist Laura Spinney in her 2017 book “Pale Rider,” which studied the Spanish flu. Among other things, Spinney said the flu may have contributed to the massive stroke U.S. President Woodrow Wilson suffered as he was recovering from the viral infection.  “That stroke left an indelible mark both on Wilson (leaving him paralyzed on the left side of his body) and on global politics,” Spinney wrote. An ailing U.S. president was unable to persuade Congress to join the League of Nations.Historians and risk analysts caution that as no one knows how COVID-19 will play out — what the death toll or economic costs will be, or how well or badly individual governments may perform — they are sure it will leave an indelible mark.Much of the impact of past contagions was due to demographic crises left in their wake — high death tolls caused social dislocation and labor shortages. Even worst-case scenarios suggest the coronavirus won’t cause a demographic crisis. But shutting down economies will have long-term ramifications, possibly a recession or depression, and will likely spawn political change.“While the health challenges and economic consequences are potentially devastating, the political consequences are harder to foresee but might be the most long-lasting,” said John Scott, head of sustainability risk at the Zurich Insurance Group.  “Voters may not be kind to politicians who fail in their basic duty to protect citizens,” he said in a note for the World Economic Forum.For all of Europe’s political leaders and ruling parties, regardless of ideology, the pandemic and its economic fallout risks driving them from office if they’re seen to have bungled.Many have already been forced into policy reversals. Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, who outlined Monday the biggest set of changes in the daily lives of Britons since World War II, has made large U-turns in the space of days.This week, he made his biggest reversal following new modeling by disease experts at London’s Imperial College, which suggested that without a national shutdown the death toll would exceed 250,000.In Europe, member states have been breaking with Brussels over border controls. European Union officials insisted that national governments should not close borders or stop the free movement of people within the so-called Schengen zone.  European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a media conference after the weekly College of Commissioners meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, March 4, 2020.Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that “each member state needs to live up to its full responsibility, and the EU as a whole needs to be determined, coordinated and united.”Her advice has been ignored, with countries across the continent closing their borders.  Some believe that the Schengen system of borderless travel will never be fully restored after the virus has been suppressed or run its course.  Luca Zaia, governor of the Veneto region, one of Italy’s worst-hit areas, told reporters that Europe’s borderless zone was “disappearing as we speak.”  “Schengen no longer exists,” he said. “It will be remembered only in the history books.”  He and others believe as the crisis deepens, member states will take other unilateral actions, setting the stage for a patchwork of national policies that will erode European unity and set back the cause of European federalism.The Economist magazine also suggested last week that the coronavirus will play more to the agenda of populists, who decry globalization and have lamented the weakening of nation states.But other observers say COVID-19 could have the reverse effect by trigging an uptick in multilateralism and greater cross-border solidarity, much as the Spanish flu prompted the ushering in of public health care systems and the first international agencies to combat disease.How the fight goes against the virus is one thing. Another is how Europe copes with the likely economic slump that follows, and a debt crisis that might be triggered, analysts say.  That, too, will reshape national and continental politics, much as the 2008 financial crash shattered the grip of mainstream parties on European politics. 
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St. Patrick’s Day celebrations around the world have fallen victim to the new coronavirus — but even a pandemic could not quash the desire to celebrate the color green, Guinness and all things Irish. Parades and parties were canceled around the globe Tuesday as governments imposed restrictions on human contact to slow the spread of the virus. A deserted O’Connell street outside the GPO in Dublin city center, March 17, 2020. The St Patrick’s Day parades across Ireland were cancelled due to the outbreak of COVID-19 virus.Irish authorities called off Dublin’s parade, which usually draws half a million revelers into the streets of the capital city, and pleaded with people not to congregate at house parties. Thousands of pubs across Ireland have been closed as part of measures to fight COVID-19, tens of thousands of pints of Guinness will go un-poured and 140,000 people who work in pubs, restaurants and childcare are unemployed, at least temporarily.  But even in a time of social distancing and self-isolation, the desire to mark the day bloomed.  Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTE, urged people to post footage of their improvised, isolated celebrations on social media. The hashtag #RTEVirtualParade soon became a riot of flag-waving family processions, pets in green, white and orange tricolors and children performing Irish dancing. Peter Hynes, a dairy farmer in County Cork, southwest Ireland, assembled his family for a makeshift procession through the farmyard that included a child in a wheelbarrow, a calf, a pony, a quad bike and a young man banging a bucket as a drum. “We just kind of grabbed whatever we could use as props,” said Hynes, who lives on the farm with his wife and three daughters aged 6 to 16. “We just wanted to fly the Irish flag around the world, because that’s what’s done on St. Patrick’s Day every year. “We didn’t think it would get the reaction it did. But to see the messages coming from Italy and Spain and Australia, and people in quarantine — it just put a smile on their face. That’s all we wanted to do.” In the U.K., London’s St. Patrick’s Day festival in Trafalgar Square was called off, and the government urged Britons not to visit bars and restaurants but did not formally shut them down.  In the U.S., New York’s giant parade was canceled for the first time in its 258-year history. Other cities including Chicago and Boston also scrapped their long-established parades. Still, landmarks around the world, including Sydney Opera House, the London Eye and The Colosseum in Rome, were lit up in green as part of Tourism Ireland’s “Global Greening” project. “We hope our Global Greening will bring a little positivity and hope to people everywhere and remind them that, if we all do the right thing now by following advice of our medical experts, this crisis will pass,” said chief executive Niall Gibbons. In his annual St. Patrick’s Day message, Irish President Michael D. Higgins urged people to show “solidarity and concern for the well-being of our fellow citizens” as they marked the country’s patron saint. “St Patrick’s Day has become a profound expression of a common history that extends far beyond Irish shores,” he said. “As members of that global community, we must commit to working in a spirit of solidarity and co-operation, joining with citizens across the world in fighting this global health emergency.”  
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The Church of England said on Tuesday it would suspend public worship to slow the spread of the coronavirus, although churches would remain open for prayer if possible.”Our life is going to be less characterized by attendance at church on Sunday, and more characterized by the prayer and service we offer each day,” the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Justin Welby and John Sentamu, wrote in a letter to clergy.PA Media said church weddings and funerals would continue. 
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The European Union’s external borders will be closed to non-essential travel  for 30 days as of Tuesday to fight the spread of the coronavirus, while France is following Italy and Spain in imposing a nationwide lockdown for at least 15 days.In an address to the nation Monday night, President Emmanuel Macron announced France was at war against COVID-19. He announced new measures both within France and across the EU to contain its spread.   Macron said as of midday Tuesday, the EU and Europe’s visa-free Schengen zone borders would be shut for 30 days for all but essential travel. Earlier in the day, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said she had made the recommendation to the 27-member bloc.  Macron also announced a minimum 15-day lockdown across France and its territories. People must drastically limit their movement outside their homes to essential work, errands and health services also as of Tuesday midday. Getting together with friends and non-household family members is forbidden, and violators risk punishment.  The new restrictions come amid surging numbers of coronavirus cases here — and as some hospitals increasingly struggle to cope with an overload of sick patients, especially in the eastern part of the country.   Macron also said the second round of local elections would be postponed, along with a series of unpopular reforms his government has pushed through in recent months. He announced measures to support businesses hard hit by the coronavirus, including more than $335 billion in tax and other relief.
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The European Union’s external borders will be closed to non-essential travel  for 30 days as of Tuesday to fight the spread of the coronavirus, while France is following Italy and Spain in imposing a nationwide lockdown for at least 15 days.In an address to the nation Monday night, President Emmanuel Macron announced France was at war against COVID-19. He announced new measures both within France and across the EU to contain its spread.   Macron said as of midday Tuesday, the EU and Europe’s visa-free Schengen zone borders would be shut for 30 days for all but essential travel. Earlier in the day, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said she had made the recommendation to the 27-member bloc.  Macron also announced a minimum 15-day lockdown across France and its territories. People must drastically limit their movement outside their homes to essential work, errands and health services also as of Tuesday midday. Getting together with friends and non-household family members is forbidden, and violators risk punishment.  The new restrictions come amid surging numbers of coronavirus cases here — and as some hospitals increasingly struggle to cope with an overload of sick patients, especially in the eastern part of the country.   Macron also said the second round of local elections would be postponed, along with a series of unpopular reforms his government has pushed through in recent months. He announced measures to support businesses hard hit by the coronavirus, including more than $335 billion in tax and other relief.
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Russian journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva has been formally charged with justifying terrorism in a case that has drawn criticism from rights and media watchdogs.Prokopyeva, a freelance contributor for RFE/RL’s Russian Service, said on March 16 she had been handed the indictment document at the prosecutor’s office in Pskov.She denies the charge, which stem from comments made during a 2018 Ekho Moskvy broadcast.If found guilty, the journalist faces seven years in prison.RFE/RL President Jamie Fly condemned Prokopyeva’s indictment, saying that “the charges lack any merit, and have been brought instead in a cynical effort to silence an independent journalist.””Independent journalists in Russia should be respected for their critical role in providing people with important news and information about issues they are facing, and not treated as criminals for doing their jobs,” Fly added. 
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Spain is suffering Europe’s worst coronavirus contagion after Italy, according to government officials who have declared a “state of alarm” to implement the type of emergency measures instituted in Italy, forcing people to stay indoors even at the risk of economic paralysis. According to Spanish health authorities, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose past 9,000 on Monday, increasing at a rate of 35% over the weekend when the government issued quarantine orders for all of Spain. In Italy, confirmed coronavirus cases by Monday had exceeded 24,000, second only to China where the infection began. The government there has been criticized for not instituting emergency measures earlier than it did.   “By applying nationwide measures early on we hope to get above the contagion curve,” said Madrid Community Vice President Ignacio Aguado, who administers health programs in Spain’s capital where about half of Spain’s coronavirus cases are concentrated. He says the number of fatalities has been reduced through stepped-up testing and emergency care throughout the country, including the requisitioning of private hospitals and mobilizing of military medical teams. Fewer than 350 people were reported to have died in Spain as of Monday, compared to more than 1,800 in Italy.   But the measures are expected to take a heavy toll on the economy. “Calculations of the economic impact are of major proportion” said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez when he announced the state of emergency on Saturday. As in other countries, the Madrid stock market has seen share values decline by about one-third. Tourism – a major source of income which has helped to cushion Spain from previous economic crises – has suffered the heaviest blow as beaches, scenic town centers and all forms of outside entertainment have been declared off limits or banned. During the weekend, police vans and drones armed with loudspeakers warned citizens to stay away from beachside promenades and boulevards, while tourists crowded into airports to await repatriation to their respective countries.   A woman takes shelters from the rain under an umbrella while passing graffiti reading,”Privatizing Health Service kills. Capitalvirus”, in Pamplona, northern Spain, March 16, 2020.The city of Seville is being forced to cancel its annual holy week processions, famous bull fights and horse fairs at a cost of about $500 million – a sum that some fear could bankrupt the southern region of Andalucia.   Union and business leaders say they fear massive unemployment if the crisis drags on for months.   Public health officials in Madrid predict that that the epidemic will not peak until April. Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez Almeida has blamed the rapid propagation of the virus in Spain’s capital on a March 8 Women’s Day march led by government ministers. City officials had called for the march to be canceled in view of the growing health emergency.  The wives of Sanchez and of Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias were found to be infected with the virus after participating the march.   The entire leadership of the far right VOX party also went into quarantine last week following a rally in the Madrid suburb of Vista Alegre.   At a press conference Sunday night, the ministers of interior, defense, sanitation and transport – who make up a newly formed emergency cabinet – announced plans to reduce road transport throughout Spain by 85%.   Their declaration followed complaints from local authorities in eastern and southern coastal regions that Madrid residents were coming to serve their quarantines at their vacation homes.  Protesting neighbors gathered outside the villa of former prime minister Jose Maria Azanar when he arrived from Madrid at the southern resort of Marbella with his family. 
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Russia’s Constitutional Court has approved amendments that, among other changes, would allow Vladimir Putin to run again for president in 2024. The constitutional changes are due to be put to a nationwide vote in April.In January, Putin announced a major shake-up of Russian politics and a constitutional overhaul, which the Kremlin described as a redistribution of power from the presidency to parliament. FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a session of the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament, prior to its members voting on constitutional amendments, in Moscow, March 10, 2020.But last week Putin, who is in his fourth presidential term and has been president or prime minister of Russia for two decades, appeared in the State Duma to back a new amendment that would allow him to ignore a current constitutional ban on him running again in four years’ time. The previous rules forbade him from running for a third consecutive mandate, but that changes with the provisions of the amendments, meaning he can seek a fifth overall presidential term in 2024, and conceivably a sixth in 2030.  
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Spain’s tally of coronavirus cases rose to 8,744 on Monday and the number of fatalities rose to 297, said Fernando Simon, the head of the country’s health emergency center.
 
The previous tally was 7,753 cases on Sunday, with 288 fatalities
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Berlin is trying to stop Washington from persuading a German company seeking a coronavirus vaccine to move its research to the United States, prompting German politicians to insist no country should have a monopoly on any future vaccine.German government sources told Reuters on Sunday that the U.S. administration was looking into how it could gain access to a potential vaccine being developed by a German firm, CureVac.Earlier, the Welt am Sonntag German newspaper reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had offered funds to lure CureVac to the United States, and the German government was making counter-offers to tempt it to stay.There was no comment immediately available from the U.S. embassy in Berlin when contacted by Reuters over the report.“The German government is very interested in ensuring that vaccines and active substances against the new coronavirus are also developed in Germany and Europe,” a Health Ministry spokeswoman said, confirming a quote in the newspaper.“In this regard, the government is in intensive exchange with the company CureVac,” she added.Welt am Sonntag also quoted an unidentified German government source as saying Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”CureVac issued a statement on Sunday, in which it said: “The company rejects current rumors of an acquisition”.The firm said it was in contact with many organizations and authorities worldwide, but would not comment on speculation and rejected “allegations about offers for acquisition of the company or its technology.”A German Economy Ministry spokeswoman said Berlin “has a great interest” in producing vaccines in Germany and Europe.She cited Germany’s foreign trade law, under which Berlin can examine takeover bids from non-EU, so-called third countries “if national or European security interests are at stake”.EXPERIMENTAL VACCINEFlorian von der Muelbe, CureVac’s chief production officer and co-founder, told Reuters last week the company had started with a multitude of coronavirus vaccine candidates and was now selecting the two best to go into clinical trials.The privately-held company based in Tuebingen, Germany hopes to have an experimental vaccine ready by June or July to then seek the go-ahead from regulators for testing on humans.On its website, CureVac said CEO Daniel Menichella early this month met Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and senior representatives of pharmaceutical and biotech companies to discuss a vaccine.Karl Lauterbach, a professor of health economics and epidemiology who is also a senior German lawmaker tweeted: “The exclusive sale of a possible vaccine to the USA must be prevented by all means. Capitalism has limits.”CureVac in 2015 and 2018 secured financial backing for development projects from its investor the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, working on shots to prevent malaria and influenza.In the field of so-called mRNA therapeutics, CureVac competes with U.S. biotech firm Moderna and German rival BioNTech, which Pfizer has identified as a potential collaboration partner.Drugs based on mRNA provide a type of genetic blueprint that can be injected into the body to instruct cells to produce the desired therapeutic proteins. That contrasts with the conventional approach of making these proteins in labs and bio-reactors.In the case of vaccines, the mRNA prompts body cells to produce so-called antigens, the tell-tale molecules on the surface of viruses, that spur the immune system into action.Companies working on other coronavirus-vaccine approaches include Johnson & Johnson and INOVIO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 
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Spain’s King Felipe VI has renounced any future personal inheritance he could receive from his father, King Emerit Juan Carlos I, over the alleged financial irregularities involving the former monarch, the country’s royal house announced Sunday.The royal house said in a statement that in addition to renouncing his inheritance, Felipe is stripping Juan Carlos of his annual stipend. In 2018, the former monarch received 194,232 euros ($216,000).The decision comes amid an ongoing investigation by Swiss prosecutors into an offshore account allegedly operated for Juan Carlos. The account allegedly received 88 million euros ($100 million) from Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah in 2008, which prosecutors believe could be kickback payments, according to the Swiss newspaper Tribune de Geneve.On Saturday, the British newspaper The Telegraph reported that Felipe was named as a beneficiary of an offshore fund that controls the Swiss account with an alleged 65 million euro gift ($72 million) from Saudi Arabia given to his father when he was on the throne.Juan Carlos, 82, became king in November 1975 and reigned until his abdication in June 2014.Felipe, 52, denied any knowledge of the fund in Sunday’s statement.
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 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will step up government action this week in a bid to slow the spread across Britain of the potentially deadly coronavirus by accelerating plans to make the elderly stay at home — possibly for months — and for whole families to self-quarantine when any family member displays COVID-19 symptoms.The acceleration of planned new social-distancing rules marks the third policy reversal by Johnson in the past four days. The move comes after hundreds of scientists accused the government in an open letter of “risking many more lives than necessary” by delaying the introduction of more restrictive social-distancing measures.They are urging the government to start locking-down virus hotspots, close schools and order the cessation of flights from other countries affected by the outbreak, as other European countries and the U.S. have done.FILE – A woman wearing a face mask passes a Public Health England sign, warning arriving passengers that the coronavirus has been detected in Wuhan in China, at Terminal 4 of London Heathrow Airport in west London on Jan. 28, 2020.Johnson is basing Britain’s COVID strategy partly on the theory of “herd immunity, his critics say. His science advisers last week said there’s little the government can do to prevent the virus spreading and that the best way to protect the public from the virus in the long term is for most of the population to contract it, while shielding the old and vulnerable from catching the coronavirus.Once about 60% of the population has had the disease, thereby becoming immune in theory from further reinfection, it will provide some protection to those who are not immune because the virus will spread much more slowly or may just die out. The government’s priority, instead, is to try to slow the rate of the spread of COVID-19 to avoid the public health system from becoming overwhelmed. The ‘herd immunity’ strategy is being championed by Johnson’s chief science adviser, Patrick Vallance, and has become the focus of an increasingly charged debate, with its critics saying it is out of step with the lockdown strategies being adopted by Britain’s European neighbors. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds a news conference to give the government’s response to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, at Downing Street in London, March 12, 2020.Vallance last week described to British broadcasters how a majority of the country’s population of more than 65 million would need to be infected with the coronavirus for the risk of widespread future outbreaks to be minimized. Speaking on BBC Radio Friday he said: “Our aim is to try and reduce the peak, broaden the peak, not suppress it completely; also, because the vast majority of people get a mild illness, to build up some kind of herd immunity so more people are immune to this disease and we reduce the transmission.”But many infectious disease experts say it isn’t certain that those who have been infected once, will, in fact, acquire immunity to it or any future COVID-19 strains. There have been several cases recorded in China and Japan of people being re-infected once they have recovered from contracting the virus the first time. They warn following a ‘herd immunity’ approach would mean accepting that more than 40 million people will need to get the disease and that even with a low 1% mortality rate, that would mean a likely 400,000 deaths. They also say Johnson’s science advisers are being too pessimistic about the chances of developing quickly a vaccine. “The government is playing roulette with the public,” said Richard Horton, editor of Britain’s The Lancet, a weekly peer-reviewed medical journal. “We need immediate and assertive social distancing and closure policies,” he tweeted. Other critics have compared Vallance to Dr. Strangelove, the character in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 black comedy movie satirizing the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States.“The UK government has inexplicably chosen to encourage the flames, in the misguided notion that somehow they will be able to control them,” says William Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health. He says he and his colleagues “assumed that reports of the UK policy were satire – an example of the wry humor for which the country is famed. But they are all too real.”Health Secretary Matt Hancock walks past a hand washing station as he leaves after talking about coronavirus at the annual conference of the British Chambers of Commerce in London, March 5, 2020.Under an avalanche of criticism, Britain’s health minister Matt Hancock distanced on Sunday the government from Vallance’s ‘herd immunity’ strategy, saying the government’s plan is “based on the expertise of world-leading scientists” and that ‘herd immunity is not a part of it. That is a scientific concept, not a goal or a strategy. Our goal is to protect life from this virus, our strategy is to protect the most vulnerable.”He said the government will be taking “dramatic action” to tackle the virus, including telling manufacturers to build on a “war footing”, ventilators and other health equipment to cope. He said the health service has an estimated 5,000 ventilators but will need “many times more than that.”“Our generation has never been tested like this,” he added. The plans include preparing the elderly and vulnerable to remain at home, possibly for as long as four months, banning large gatherings, readying the army to be deployed to guard supermarkets and hospitals, and the cancellation of elective surgeries. He said Sunday the government was also not ruling out closing bars, restaurants and non-essential shops. The British government is planning to buy up beds in private hospitals to help the public hospitals.Opposition politicians and some prominent Conservatives, including Hancock’s predecessor as health minister, Jeremy Hunt, are not assuaged. They are demanding to see the data and disease modeling the government is using to inform its approach and say the differences between between Vallance and Hancock on what the strategy is based on would suggest that Johnson’s doesn’t have a clear plan, despite assuring the public at a press conference last week that he does. Policy reversals are also prompting public nervousness, opinion polls suggest, with 47% saying the government needed to be doing more. On Thursday, Johnson and his advisers dismissed the idea that it is necessary to ban mass gatherings, saying it was not needed at this stage. Banning large crowds would not have a “big effect” on slowing COVID-19 transmission, Vallance said.A couple wear face masks as they visit Buckingham Palace in London, Saturday, March 14, 2020.But within hours, most major sporting authorities, including those governing soccer and rugby, suspended all matches. Following that, government ministers effected a U-turn and started telling reporters that mass gatherings would, after all be banned from next week. The government also initially indicated next month’s nationwide municipal elections would go ahead, only to reverse and announce they would be postponed. Criticism has also mounted of the government’s decision to delay the stay-at-home advice. On Sunday, Hancock told Britain’s Sky News the government did not want to act too soon and lock life down as fatigue would set in and people wouldn’t be able to maintain it. “It’s not an easy thing for people to do, it’s not an easy thing for people to sustain. But the critical thing is we need to be ready,” he said.But former Conservative minister Rory Stewart, says the government shouldn’t be delaying action. He has called for schools to be closed. “Evidence from other pandemics is that closing schools and large gatherings earlier rather than later stops the peaks of this kind of disease,” he said.Some epidemiologists agree that the British government shouldn’t be delaying ramping up restrictions. “Social distancing has worked in China, Singapore and other countries,” says Alan McNally, professor of microbial evolutionary genomics at Britain’s Birmingham University.Other disease experts, though, support the government’s pacing of measures. According to Michael Head, an epidemiologist at Britain’s Southampton University, restrictions will only work if there is a high level of public compliance. “You won’t get that over a long period of time,” he says. 
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People across France voted in the first round of municipal elections Sunday — one of the few major events that authorities haven’t canceled or postponed over the coronavirus outbreak. Voters may punish President Emmanuel Macron’s young party. French authorities have shuttered schools, restaurants and non-essential commerce across the country to help slow the coronavirus outbreak that now counts roughly 4,500 cases here. But local elections are going forward, despite criticism. Here, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, there was a steady flow of voters entering the local city hall. Malthilde, a mother of two, says she isn’t worried about voting —there’s just as much chance contracting coronavirus at supermarkets, which remain open. She’s more concerned about juggling a new job and her two toddlers who are now home, under the prevention measures, rather than at daycare.German resident Andrea, who as a European Union citizen can vote in these local elections, is also unconcerned about getting infected. “I voted here without any problems, said Andrea. “They have upstairs, at any desk, you have disinfectant, and there is no problem at all to vote.”Voters leaving the 11 arrondissement town hall in Paris. Lisa Bryant, March 15, 2020. (L. Bryant/VOA)Authorities were supposed to ensure a meter space between voters, and supply soap and disinfectant products at voting booths. Voters have been told to bring their own pens to sign the voting register. But experts nonetheless predicted lower-than-normal turnout. Parisian Jean-Michel Levy says he’s boycotting the vote over coronavirus concerns.“I’m not going to vote, not because I’m afraid, but I think it’s really ridiculous to maintain the elections today,” said Levy. “They should have postponed it.”Analysts predict these local elections may well deliver a blow to President Macron’s relatively young La Republique en Marche party, which has yet to build strong local roots — and because of a raft of unpopular reforms his government has pushed through.Paris is considered a key battleground, with Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo hoping to clinch a second term that would see her presiding over the 2024 Paris Olympics. The second round of voting takes place next Sunday.  
 
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Vladimir Putin has formally signed off on constitutional amendments that would allow the Russian leader to run again for president in 2024, the Interfax news agency reported on March 14.The announcement comes a day after it was reported that all of Russia’s regional parliaments had voted in favor of the measures.In January, Putin announced a major shake-up of Russian politics and a constitutional overhaul, which the Kremlin described as a redistribution of power from the presidency to parliament.But earlier this week, Putin, who has been president or prime minister of Russia for two decades, appeared in the State Duma to back a new amendment that would allow him to ignore a current constitutional ban on him running again in 2024.The Kremlin notes that Putin has not said whether or not he will run again in 2024.Other constitutional changes further strengthen the presidency and emphasize the priority of Russian law over international norms — a provision reflecting the Kremlin’s irritation with the European Court of Human Rights and other international bodies that have often issued verdicts against Russia.The changes also outlaw same-sex marriage and mention “a belief in God” as one of Russia’s traditional values.Both houses of the national parliament have already backed the changes as has every single regional parliament.“The Federation Council [the upper house of parliament] has received the results of voting in all 85 regional parliaments,” said Andrei Klishas, chairman of the council’s committee on constitutional law. “They are all positive,” RIA cited him as saying on March 13.The list of 85 regions he referenced includes two which are part of Russian-controlled Crimea, which Moscow forcibly annexed from Ukraine in 2014.Russia’s Constitutional Court must now examine the constitutional changes, which are due to be put to a nationwide vote in April.Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, urged its members on March 12 to rally behind Putin against what he said was a foreign campaign to discredit the constitutional reforms.The previous rules forbade him from running for a third consecutive mandate, but that changes with the provisions of the amendments, meaning he can seek a fifth overall presidential term in 2024, and conceivably a sixth in 2030.
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The Vatican has taken an unprecedented decision due to the coronavirus outbreak. All Holy Week services with Pope Francis will be held without a congregation, including Easter Sunday mass.It will be a very different Holy Week for the faithful this year, particularly for those in Rome. No one will be allowed to attend any of the services due to the coronavirus outbreak. The large crowds in Saint Peter’s Square will not be possible this year.A note on the web site of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household that appeared late Saturday said the faithful will be able to follow the events as they are streamed on the internet or carried on television, but no one will be able to actively participate.  Holy Week is normally one of the busiest times of the year for Pope Francis, with tens of thousands of people arriving from all over the world to join in celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.  FILE – Few tourists walk in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, March 6, 2020.It is still unclear how the services will be held by the pope, or where exactly, as the Vatican is still to provide further details. Holy Week services begin on Palm Sunday, which marks Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Other important services include Holy Thursday Mass when the oils are blessed. Normally on that day Pope Francis washes the feet of prisoners but this is unlikely to happen this year.The Lord’s Passion service is normally held in Saint Peter’s Basilica on Good Friday followed by the Way of the Cross around Rome’s ancient Colosseum. This too is likely to be canceled or will take place without public participation. Pope Francis will still be giving his twice-yearly Urbi et Orbi blessing on Easter Sunday.Italian authorities locked down the entire country last Monday as the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak continues to soar. There are currently more than 21,000 positive cases in the country and the death toll has reached 1441. Churches in Rome have been reopened but all masses are canceled to avoid people gathering in one place.   
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French voters are going to the polls Sunday to cast their votes in municipal elections, despite an outbreak of the coronavirus and an outcry that the virus and the fear of contamination will keep many voters home. President Emmanuel Macron has insisted that the democratic continuity of the nation would be in jeopardy if the vote were delayed. Thousands of mayors and municipal councils will be elected in the two-round polls.     In the fight mounted against the coronavirus, France has closed the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre.  On Sunday, restaurants, cinemas and non-esential retail stores were also shuttered. The second round of voting will be held March 22. 
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Romanian lawmakers on Saturday voted overwhelmingly to approve Prime Minister Ludovic Orban’s new government, the same one ousted last month as the result of losing a no-confidence vote.Orban’s nomination by President Klaus Iohannis came amid Romania’s efforts to limit the spread of the coronavirus, which has already infected 109 people in the country.
After Orban was sworn in, Iohannis said a state of emergency would be introduced in Romania on Monday. The measure would allow authorities to streamline decision-making and simplify the purchase of medical supplies.The measure will also make possible the allocation of important new resources for managing the crisis,'' Iohannis said.The minority government of Orban's National Liberal Party was backed by 286 deputies and senators, well above the minimum of 233 votes needed for approval. Twenty-three lawmakers voted against.The leader of the main opposition party, the Social Democrats, said it had supported the Orban government only so Romanians could have afunctioning statein the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.The National Liberal Party and Iohannisdon’t deserve this vote, but Romanians deserve a functioning state which can react quickly to the epidemic,” said Marcel Ciolacu, president of Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies and head of the Social Democrats.Orban, ministers in isolationOrban and his cabinet of ministers, who remained in a caretaker role after losing a no-confidence vote on February 5, have been in isolation since Friday, after a government party lawmaker they frequently met with was confirmed to have been infected with the new virus.Because of the risk of spreading the virus, ministerial nominees took questions from the corresponding parliamentary committees by videoconference, there was no parliamentary debate before the vote and Orban sent his remarks to lawmakers in writing.Before his ouster last month because of disputed changes he sought to the election law, Orban had been in power since November, when his government replaced a Social Democratic government beset by corruption scandals.
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Spain decided Saturday to follow Italy in declaring a nationwide lockdown to slow the accelerating spread of the coronavirus epidemic, Spanish media reported.Spain’s decision came as European countries took ever more severe, though widely varying, measures to reduce contact between their citizens and slow the pandemic. China — where the virus first emerged late last year — continued to ease up lockdown measures in its hardest-hit region.According to a copy of the royal decree seen by The Associated Press, Spain’s government was to announce Saturday that it is placing tight restrictions on movement for the nation of 46 million people while declaring a two-week state of emergency. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was due to address the nation in the afternoon.Health authorities in Spain said Saturday that coronavirus infections have reached 5,753 people, half of them in the capital, Madrid. That represents a national increase of over 1,500 in 24 hours. The country had 136 deaths, up from 120.The number of new cases has dwindled in China, but the virus has in recent weeks spread exponentially in the Middle East, Europe and North America, leading President Donald Trump to declare a state of emergency for the United States on Friday. By Saturday, more than 145,000 infections and over 5,400 deaths had been confirmed worldwide.Europe has now become the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, with countries imposing a cascade of restrictions in efforts to prevent their health systems collapsing under the load of cases. Schools, bars and shops not selling essential goods are among the facilities being closed in many places.Residents in Madrid, which has around half the infections, and northeastern Catalonia had already awoken Saturday to shuttered bars and restaurants and other non-essential commercial outlets as ordered by regional authorities. Madrid ordered city parks closed and Seville canceled its Easter Week processions — one of Spain’s most important religious and cultural events.A man wearing a protective face mask walks at the usually crowded Plaza Mayor in central Madrid, Spain, March 14, 2020, after authorities ordered all shops in the region be shuttered die to the coronavirus.Coronavirus elsewhereSpain’s measures to date, though, had fallen short of those ordered by Italy, the worst-hit European country, which has reached a total of over 17,600 confirmed cases — the largest outbreak after China — with 1,266 deaths. The government in Rome has ordered an unprecedented lockdown, ordering businesses to close and restricting people’s movement.
Mayors of many Italian cities, including Rome and Milan, decided to close public playgrounds and parks. Under a government decree issued earlier in the week, people had been allowed in parks as long as they kept at least a distance of 1 meter between each other.While limiting public life to a minimum, Premier Giuseppe Conte has said production — particularly of food and health supplies — must not stop. On Saturday morning, union and industrial leaders reached an agreement on special measures to keep factories running.At noon, people around Italy came out on their balconies, terraces, gardens or simply leaned out from open windows to clap for several minutes in a gesture of thanks to medical staff.For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.The vast majority of people recover. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.Elsewhere in Europe, some countries moved to isolate themselves from their neighbors.Denmark closed its borders and halted passenger traffic to and from the country, a measure that was due to last through April 13. Travelers were to be turned away at the border if they are unable to show that they have “a legitimate reason” to enter, for example they are Danish citizens or residents.“I know that the overall list of measures is very extreme and will be seen as very extreme, but I am convinced that it’s worth it,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.Poland was closing its borders starting at midnight and denying all foreigners entry unless they lived in Poland or had personal ties there. Non-citizens allowed in will be quarantined for 14 days. The Czech Republic and Slovakia took similar action.A man sits inside an empty tram amid an outbreak of the coronavirus, in Warsaw, Poland, March 14, 2020.Russia said its land borders with Norway and Poland will be closed to most foreigners beginning Sunday.On the other side of the globe, New Zealand announced that all incoming passengers, including New Zealand citizens, will be required to isolate themselves for 14 days, with few exceptions. Philippine officials announced a night curfew in the capital and said millions of people in the densely populated region should only go out of their homes during the daytime for work or urgent errands.The steps being implemented globally increasingly mirror those taken by China, which in January made the unprecedented decision to halt outbound transportation from cities with a combined population of more than 60 million people, starting with the epicenter, Wuhan in the central province of Hubei.The spread of COVID-19 in the country has slowed dramatically, according to China’s National Health Commission. Whereas the commission reported thousands of new cases daily only one month ago, it said Saturday that there were 13 new deaths and just 11 new cases, including people who recently arrived in China from other affected countries like Italy.The government of Hubei lowered its health risk assessments for all counties in the province outside of Wuhan, the only city that remains “high-risk.” Several Hubei municipalities are gradually resuming public transportation services and reopening businesses.Hundreds of parks, museums and art galleries have re-opened in Shanghai in another sign that epidemic-related restrictions are lifting.The waning outbreak in China stands in contrast with an escalating number of infections elsewhere.In the U.S., which reported its 50th death Friday, Trump said the new emergency decree will open up $50 billion for state and local governments to respond to the crisis. The president said the decree also gave the secretary of health and human services emergency powers to waive federal regulations to give doctors and hospitals “flexibility” in treating patients.Drug company executives vowed to work together and with the government to quickly expand the country’s coronavirus testing capabilities, which are far behind those in many countries.Cases topped 2,100 across the U.S., where thousands of schools have been closed, concerts and sporting events canceled and Broadway theaters shut down. Trump has halted his trademark political rallies, following the lead of Democratic rivals Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.
 
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Vladimir Putin has formally signed off on constitutional amendments that would allow the Russian leader to run again for president in 2024.His approval comes a day after it was reported that all of Russia’s regional parliaments had voted in favor of the measures.In January, Putin announced a major shake-up of Russian politics and a constitutional overhaul, which the Kremlin described as a redistribution of power from the presidency to parliament.But earlier this week, Putin, who has been president or prime minister of Russia for two decades, appeared in the State Duma to back a new amendment that would allow him to ignore a current constitutional ban on him running again in 2024.The previous rules forbade him from running for a third consecutive mandate, but that changes with the provisions of the amendments, meaning he can seek a fifth overall presidential term in 2024, and conceivably a sixth in 2030.The Kremlin notes that Putin has not said whether or not he will run again in 2024.Other constitutional changes further strengthen the presidency and emphasize the priority of Russian law over international norms — a provision reflecting the Kremlin’s irritation with the European Court of Human Rights and other international bodies that have often issued verdicts against Russia.The changes also outlaw same-sex marriage and mention “a belief in God” as one of Russia’s traditional values.Both houses of the national parliament have already backed the changes as has every single regional parliament.“The Federation Council [the upper house of parliament] has received the results of voting in all 85 regional parliaments,” said Andrei Klishas, chairman of the council’s committee on constitutional law. “They are all positive,” RIA cited him as saying on March 13.The list of 85 regions he referenced includes two which are part of Russian-controlled Crimea, which Moscow forcibly annexed from Ukraine in 2014.Russia’s Constitutional Court must now examine the constitutional changes, which are due to be put to a nationwide vote in April.Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, urged its members on March 12 to rally behind Putin against what he said was a foreign campaign to discredit the constitutional reforms.
 
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The U.S. travel ban on most flights from Europe, a part of the U.S. strategy in preventing the spread of the deadly coronavirus, has gone into effect. U.S. President Donald Trump announced the ban Wednesday night in an address from the Oval Office.  The 30-day ban blocks most foreign visitors from 26 countries in Europe, while accepting those from Britain and Ireland. Americans and American permanent residents who were abroad at the time of Trump’s announcement were initially not sure if they would be allowed back into the country after Friday. They are exempt from the ban, but that was not immediately clear in the president’s address.   Many of them scrambled to book flights back home before the ban went into effect. Mark, a U.S. resident who was in Spain at the time of Trump’s announcement, told Reuters that he came back “a little bit earlier” than planned.”  Trump made the decision about the ban without consulting any European officials. “The European Union disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, and Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said in a joint statement.”The coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent, and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action,” von der Leyen and Michel said. “The European Union is taking strong action to limit the spread of the virus.”All Americans returning from Europe will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival back in the U.S. to try to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
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Kosovo will not lift its 100% tariffs on goods from Serbia and Bosnia anytime soon because the coalition government cannot agree on whether the import taxes should be phased out or abolished all at once, the country’s prime minister said Friday.Prime Minister Albin Kurti said his left-wing Self-Determination Movement, or Vetevendosje, wanted to lift the tariffs in phases, starting Sunday with raw materials imported from Serbia, as a goodwill gesture.The party’s main governing partner, the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK, wants the import taxes dropped completely. Kurti wants abolishment of the tariffs made conditional on Serbia’s stopping an international campaign against Kosovo’s recognition as a country.The coalition partners have not found a compromise, Kurti said.“In the absence of a government decision, everything remains as it is, the 100% tax remains,” he said.The United States and European Union also want Kosovo to do away with the tariffs and to resume talks with Serbia on normalizing ties.Pause in fundingThe Millenium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. independent government agency, said on Friday it would pause implementation of a $49 million funding program for Kosovo until the tariffs issue was settled.Kosovo imposed the punitive tariffs in November 2018 over Serbian efforts to block Kosovo from joining international organizations. The dispute led to the suspension of the EU-mediated talks, which started in 2011.Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has described Kurti’s proposed phase-out as a trick.Kosovo was formerly a part of Serbia and won independence after a 1999 NATO bombing campaign that ended a bloody Serb crackdown on an armed uprising by members of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority. Serbia refuses to accept Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.
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Amid stalls of vegetables and cheap clothes, party faithful push campaign flyers at Saint-Denis’ weekly market near the French capital under scudding clouds. Some shoppers brush past, unconvinced by the political offers. Others accept the colorful manifestos, stuffing them between bags of cassavas and oranges. Located a few miles outside Paris, this gritty suburb is the ultimate French melting pot, boasting no fewer than 140 different nationalities. Ahead of the first round of French municipal elections Sunday — still on track, despite the coronavirus outbreak — bread-and-butter issues like fighting crime and increasing affordable housing rank high.A flyer advertising the candidacy of Socialist Mathieu Hanotin, who wants to expand green spaces if elected. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)But like elsewhere in France, green issues also dominate candidate platforms, powered by voter concerns about climate change, pesticides and pollution. Analysts speculate France’s Greens party could capture a number of towns, large and small. Perhaps more strikingly, however, the Greens no longer have the lock on environmental issues.   “We’re seeing the environment capturing a growing place in candidates’ platforms, regardless of their political beliefs,” said Maud Lelievre, spokeswoman for Les Eco Maires, a network of 1,800 environmentally minded communes in France. “It’s no longer a marginal issue,” Lelievre said. “It takes up pages of their platforms — issues like animal welfare, greening cities, local produce and transport. These were issues traditionally reserved for really environmental parties.”  Even in towns like Saint-Denis, with historically high abstention rates, the green vote may dominate, Lelievre said, partly because residents with strong convictions tend to be the ones heading to the polls.   A mixed political choiceAt City Hall, Mayor Laurent Russier lists priorities, from making neighborhoods clean and secure to ensuring the town’s poorest residents will not be squeezed out by wealthier transplants from Paris.   Saint-Denis Mayor Laurent Russier, whose agenda includes expanding bike lanes and eco-friendly buildings. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)As a communist, Russier fits a once-common profile for working-class French suburbs like this one. Yet his ticket offers a 21st-century twist — Greens party members — and he also describes plans to expand bike lanes and mass transport and build more low-emission buildings.   “If we want to have a real environmental transition, all our residents need to be part of it,” Russier said. “Those who are more fragile and those better off.” At the Saint-Denis market, Russier’s rivals are sounding similar messages.   “The majority of French and people living in Saint-Denis don’t vote for green parties,” although green issues are important to them, said Alexandre Aidara, running for mayor on the governing La Republique en Marche (LREM) ticket. “And they know you can be LREM and have a very good green program.” A few blocks away, Socialist Party candidate Mathieu Hanotin described how Saint-Denis sweltered in last summer’s heat wave, which he attributed to climate change.“We want to bring in new ambition on issues like soil degradation and greening public spaces,” he said.   For long-term resident Marion Tisserand, a mother of three, their arguments translated into a difficult choice. “It’s a very mixed picture among the candidates,” she said. “I have a tendency to vote green in elections, but I don’t know yet whom to go for.” Battling over the green labelCountrywide, France’s trademark Greens party hopes to consolidate its strong showing during last year’s European Parliament elections that were echoed elsewhere in Europe. Just one major French city, Grenoble, currently has a Greens party mayor. Now several other municipalities may be up for grabs during these local elections, including Bordeaux, Rouen, Strasbourg and Marseille.   Maud Lelievre of Eco Maires says environmental issues have been mainstreamed into party platforms in France. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)Lelievre, of Eco Maires, said the Greens may fare well in this first round of voting, but less so in the second round, scheduled for March 22.   “But in big towns with young, well-educated voters, there’s a chance of environmentalists coming ahead” in the second as well, she said. Yet like Saint-Denis, other municipalities are seeing a partisan battle for the green mantle. That’s the case in Paris, where Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo has built kilometers of bike lanes, has established car-free days and spaces, and has promised to expand plans to create more “urban jungles” of plants.   She has earned the ire of drivers, even as other critics claim she has covered stretches of Paris in cement as well as in trees.   “Hidalgo is ecology in small steps,” David Belliard, her Greens  party rival, said.   Yet Hidalgo remains the front-runner; Belliard ranks fourth.
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