Hints and tips:
...German chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged that there was “an acceptance problem with the AstraZeneca vaccine at the moment” that was slowing the jab’s rollout....
...“For Europe this is not good news,” said Alain Lamassoure, a French centre-right member of the European Parliament....
...Süddeutsche Zeitung praises “AKK” for having the “chutzpah” to draw a clear line between herself and Merkel....
...Alain Lamassoure, a veteran French MEP for the EPP, said that Mr Orban’s fate was linked to the outcome of Thursday’s vote....
...In his 2013 book L'Identité malheureuse, the French neo-conservative philosopher Alain Finkielkraut accused European societies of caving in to Islamists in the name of tolerance and liberalism....
...When Silvio Berlusconi allegedly used it as the crux of an unrepeatable comment about Angela Merkel in 2014 (which he has since denied), it wouldn’t have been meant as a compliment....
...A speech Macron delivered in Athens last autumn suggests that he sees himself playing de Gaulle to Angela Merkel’s Adenauer....
...This week’s rail strike in France has awakened memories of 1995, when numerous labour disputes paralysed the country and eventually led to then prime minister Alain Juppé abandoning controversial social...
...Merkel may be able to find a federal majority without requiring a grand coalition with the centre-left....
...It is true that Ms Merkel faces challenges from left and right....
...For Merkel, however, there is no escaping them....
...In fact, Messrs Macron and Fillon have both met German chancellor Angela Merkel in recent months and the centrist candidate has also met Theresa May, the UK prime minister....
...However, it is also worth adding that both François Fillon and Alain Juppé are running on a classical neoliberal economics platform....
...This Sunday will see France’s opposition Republican party vote to pick its presidential candidate from a choice of two former prime ministers – the right-wing François Fillon and more centrist Alain Juppé...
...Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, congratulated Mr Macron and wished him “good luck” for the second round....
...Elsewhere in Europe Schulz surge stalls Angela Merkel’s CDU landed a blow against the SPD after it did unexpectedly well during regional elections in Schleswig-Holstein....
...Monday’s gains come after Angela Merkel announced she would be running for her fourth-term as German chancellor, while France’s centre-right Republican party inched closer to picking its presidential candidate...
...Juppé says non Alain Juppé will not gazump François Fillon’s flailing bid to become president of France....
...Following this weekend’s centre-right primary, it seems likely that Ms Le Pen will face a run-off in May against either François Fillon or Alain Juppé....
...Good news for 72-year old French MEP Alain Lamassoure....
...But for presidential hopefuls such as former president Nicolas Sarkozy, former prime minister Alain Juppe and far-right leader Marine Le Pen, it is a godsend seven months before presidential elections....
...Email duncan.robinson@ft.com Twitter @duncanrobinson Elsewhere in Europe: other things to think about Merkel’s mantle Angela Merkel faces having to take over as the de facto face of the liberal west at...
...Merkel mania does not reach Bavaria While Barack Obama was anointing Angela Merkel as the new leader of the liberal western world, the German chancellor’s allies closer to home were wary....
...Days before a run-off vote between Mr Fillon and Alain Juppé to decide who will be the centre-right candidate, they also reflect Russia’s wider effort to cultivate ties with like-minded European politicians...
...In the second scenario, Alain Juppé, a former premier, wins France’s presidential election, to be held over two rounds in April and May. This is also plausible....
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