Eurotopics.net

Austria's Finance Minister Gernot Blümel of the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) is under investigation for corruption following allegations that he intervened in favour of gambling company Novomatic in a tax court case in Italy in exchange for party donations. Now Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (also of the ÖVP) has written a letter to the judicial authorities offering to testify in order to refute the "false assumptions and incorrect facts" against his colleague. Commentators see this as a faux pas.

After several days of talks, the Australian government and Facebook have settled their dispute over the planned new media law (the News Media Bargaining Code). In the future the tech giant is to negotiate payment for journalistic content directly with Australia's media companies and outlets. If the negotiations fail, the government will appoint a mediator. Facebook has said it will reverse its ban on news content and pages.

At the end of January 2020 France reported the first case of coronavirus in Europe. On 23 February large parts of Italy went into lockdown. The first wave rolled over the continent, with large swathes of the population still unaware of the gravity of the situation. Vaccines are now available, but one year into the pandemic the European press is deeply disillusioned.

At a meeting in Brussels the foreign ministers of EU states introduced new sanctions against Russian officials over the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. In the coming weeks those deemed responsible for Navalny's imprisonment will be confronted with EU travel bans and having their assets frozen.