France

Victor Orban's party Fidesz is kicked out from the European People's Party (EPP), the centre-right political bloc in the European Parliament, today.

The New York-based Freedom House watchdog organisation says in its latest annual report, published on Wednesday, that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed European democracies of all political types under "severe strain".

Cooperation between Turkey and France can contribute greatly to security, stability, and peace efforts in the world, the Turkish president said in a conversation with his French counterpart on March 2, as the two capitals move to ease bilateral tensions.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of corruption on March 1 and handed a three-year prison sentence, in a ruling that deals a major blow to any lingering political ambitions.

He will go to prison for a year with two suspended sentences.
The 66-year-old politician, who was president from 2007 to 2012, was convicted because he tried to illegally find out information about legal proceedings taken against him by a senior judge in 2014, AP reports.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and two former associates have been sentenced to three years in jail - two of them suspended - for corruption.

Sarkozy, 66, was found guilty of trying to bribe a magistrate, Gilbert Azibert, by offering a prestigious job in Monaco in return for information about a criminal inquiry into his political party.

The European Commission will present a proposal in March on creating an EU-wide digital Covid-19 vaccination passport that may allow Europeans to travel more freely over the peak summer holiday period.

Reuters reports:

According to the online writing of the Ekonomija Online portal, the report states that after the summer vacation, 4.369 newly infected people were registered, who returned to Germany from Kosovo, while 3.903 newly registered cases arrived from Croatia.

Only five years later, the whole world was struck by a coronavirus pandemic - and countries were desperately struggling to secure vaccines for their populations.

Unfortunately, the EU did not understand the vaccine race and opted for a "no urgency" attitude. The UK, on the other hand, put a venture capitalist specializing in biosciences in charge of its vaccine program.