Eurotopics.net

After a long wait, Vladimir Putin finally announced measures to curb Covid-19 in Russia in a televised address last Wednesday: the whole country will be given a week's holiday on full pay, subsidies will be allocated to the the socially weak and businesses, and the constitutional referendum scheduled for April 22 will be postponed. Is the pandemic now being taken seriously?

Covid-19 is also confronting the US with a sad reality: there have now been more than 2,400 fatalities and over 140,000 confirmed cases. President Trump, who had talked of lifting containment measures such as social distancing before Easter, has now announced that they will be extended until April 30. But according to commentators the country is appallingly ill-equipped for such a crisis.

The curfews in many European countries are mainly aimed at slowing down the spread of the virus. Because if too many people fall ill at the same time, even an optimal system will collapse sooner or later. But the systems in many states are far from perfect, commentators note with some bitterness.

Not only US President Trump but also European politicians and scientists are already thinking out loud about easing the restrictions to contain Covid-19 and calling for corresponding strategies. The days after Easter are being mentioned as the time to start relaxing the measures. Commentators wonder whether such demands are not a little premature.

In a video conference on Tuesday, the Europe ministers of the EU states agreed to start accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania. Just last October their bid for membership was halted owing among other things to opposition from France. After a reform of the admission procedure, however, Paris has now given the green light. Commentators are far from unanimous in their joy at the news.

Only a minority of European countries are still relying on recommendations and voluntary social distancing measures in the corona crisis. Most have implemented varying degrees of lockdown and in many cases declared a state of emergency. Commentators warn against the erosion of the rule of law.