The country’s stellar vaccination performance has had two implications on the policy front. First, the provision of a first vaccine shot to the 15mn most vulnerable people has raised the expectations for an easing of lockdown measures, to which the government responded in its roadmap this week.… Read the rest
President Alberto Fernandez continues to fight a rearguard action to limit the political fallout from last week’s revelations about a group of officials, government allies, and the well-connected who secretly received Covid-19 vaccines in violation of eligibility rules. The very strong likelihood that the list of recipients goes well beyond the 70 people that the government admits received vaccines is likely to undermine the government’s crisis containment strategy.… Read the rest
On Wednesday, 24 February, Internal Affairs Minister Ryota Takeda announced the results of an internal investigation that found that 13 current and former Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) officials had violated administrative ethics rules. The officials, 11 of whom are expected to receive salary cut, reprimands, and other administrative punishments, had over several years accepted meals and other favors from Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s son Seigo and other executives at Tohokushinsha Film, a company that produces TV programming and other satellite broadcasting and is licensed by MIC.… Read the rest
This updated weekly piece provides snapshots of how selected European governments are dealing with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you want to discuss any of the countries mentioned in more detail.
Spain– The number of daily cases has fallen to below 10,000, which has led several regional governments to relax some of the restrictions.
The infighting between the ruling center-left Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and far-left Unidas Podemos has intensified in the last few days. While the most recent rift is allegedly due to differences over policy issues, the divisions result from PSOE’s attempts at preventing Podemos from influencing economic policy and the decline of the far-left party in opinion polls.… Read the rest