in while the european union the u.k. have clashed over vaccine supply germany has threatened extra zeneca with legal action over vaccine delays saying the company should face penalties if it gives britain preferential treatment. if it turns out that individual company is to not complying with the legations a decision must be made about legal consequences well while we've heard of threats of legal action from peter out by just there the german economy minister there are some signs of a ripoff from are being attempted to be made but in this 3 way dispute between the european union the united kingdom and the pharmaceutical giant astra zeneca the vaccine manufacturer has said that an extra $9000000.00 doses of the job will be sent to the european union in the 1st quarter of 2021 take the total to be delivered through till march open to up to $40000000.00 now that's still well short of the 102120 1000000 that the e.u. was promised back in august of last year but a slip on the line the e.u. commission president tweeted out tha

each other what they want for the future of the european union if they want a european e.u. that is the united states of europe so without borders and with a common government is a solution but they have the solution that they think is the best solution if they europe of the nation where having nation as is so ranty and so where have a nation as serenity whole so for that purpose so in an emergency situation is it normal that sometimes sound national states want to girls they board this but any if they are in said the european union they have to share or play this season absolutely and just lastly then i mean what sort of action could the european union take against these 6 countries if they don't comply. if the grid question here i don't know what they can do because because of that senator imagine c. is not a moment where you can sign salomon unified sit inside the european union so difficult for the european commission i don't know to to have. to go harder with this countries because it is not only one country there are 6 continents there are also some important countries

union would to hungary's european partners make a. well as you can imagine brussels is not very happy about that for the european union for the european commission the reason why they were so eager to have a common big scene rollout and vaccine strategy is was to make sure that every member state will get in their fake scenes that no one is left behind so to see hunger is breaking with the vaccine strategy no way no one is happy about that because the fact that hungary is the 1st state in the european union to approve and now to administer the chinese vaccine is also seen as as a huge credibility boost for beijing that is seen by the european union as a systemic rival but we also have to say that member states are allowed to buy the scenes outside of the contract that the european union signed collectively floor for its members with different vaccine makers launch you member states or frustrated about the slow pace of rollout of the covert vaccines what are the chances that some of those states might follow hungary's lead well i think

union in the european union politicians do not authorize boxing's they don't have knowledge eyes either doing an independent regulatory agency. and i think the process we are not in the course is not a sprint it's a mar now yes to the question of apology that i believe the humiliating part to you to describe but this was something the president stated the obvious that these companies with whom we had contractual relations and they assumed contractual obligations were not ready at the beginning of these contracts. to put the capacity that contracts would have required and they are sorting this release out as we speak so the apology was an apology of the moment of the start. i'm telling you again if you will succeed in our state of oxidation strategy the fact is mr sheen as the people will have died in europe waiting for you to take decisions and get them the vaccines that could have saved their life someone should take responsibility for that and resign or is there no accountability in this commission of yours we are fully accountable to the european parliament to which we which we inves

union in the european union politicians do not authorize boxing's they don't have knowledge as i have of doing an independent regulatory agency. and i think the process we are not in the course this is not a sprint it's a mar now yes to the question of apology that i believe the humiliating part you do to describe but this was something the president stated the obvious that these companies with whom we had contractual relations and they assumed contractual obligations were not ready at the beginning of these contracts to put the capacity the contracts would have required and they are sorting this release out as we speak so the apology was an apology of the moment of the start. i'm telling you again if you will succeed in our state of oxidation strategy the fact is mr sheen as the people will have died in europe waiting for you to take decisions and get them the vaccines that could have saved their life someone should take responsibility for that and resign or is there no accountability in this commission of yours. we are fully accountable to the european parliament to which we which w

union in the european union politicians do not authorize boxing's they don't have knowledge eyes either doing an independent regulatory agency. and i think the process we are not in the course this is not a sprint it's a mar now yes to the question of apology that i believe that humiliating part you do to describe but this was something the president stated the obvious that these companies with whom we had contractual relations and they assumed contractual obligations were not ready at the beginning of these contracts to put the capacity the contracts would have required it and they are sorting this release out as we speak so the apology was an apology of the moment of the start of the contracts i'm telling you again if you will succeed in our state of oxidation strategy the fact is mr sheen as the people will have died in europe waiting for you to take decisions and get them the vaccines that could have saved their life someone should take responsibility for that and resign or is there no accountability in this commission of yours. we are fully accountable to the european parliament to

from the devastation of the coronavirus at least when it comes to the european union special reportorially being a shooter now joins me from brussels levey thanks so much for coming on i mean the you is in the news for nearly destroying the good friday agreement for a vaccination war your report suggesting that well what's called the often the greatest capitalist project in history is not fit for purpose how did you arrive at that conclusion. but essentially my report tries to show that the e.u. is not willing critz to combat poverty because it has organized competition between the member states in taxation matters in the area of wages and and social contributions by huge lawyers we refer to this as fiscal dumping and social then b. and also because it imposes on member states very tight macroeconomy stripping jackets in order to avoid macroeconomy imbalances across the e.u. this makes it very difficult for states to spend money on social investment at the risk of increasing their of it until today is a unique opportunity to really rethink these issues and haps eventually create the e.u. t

meanwhile the european union and the u.k. have clashed over vaccine supply germany has threatened with legal action over a vaccine delays saying the company should face penalties if it gives britain preferential treatment. if it turns out that individual company is to not complying with the legations a decision must be made to both legal consequences well while we've heard of threats of legal action from peter out by just there the german economy minister there are some signs of a report on being attempted to be made but in this 3 way dispute between the european union the united kingdom and the pharmaceutical giant astra zeneca the vaccine manufacturer has said that an extra $9000000.00 doses of the job will be sent to the european union in the 1st quarter of 2021 the total to be delivered through till march open to up to $40000000.00 now that's still well short of the 102120 1000000 at the e.u. was promised back in august of last year but a slip on the line the e.u. commission president tweeted out that she's happy with the

union in the european union politicians do not authorize boxing's they don't have knowledge eyes either do have an independent regulatory agency. and i think the process we are not in the course this is not a sprint it's a mar now as to the question of apology that i believe the humiliating part you do to describe but this was something the president stated the obvious that these companies with whom we had contractual relations and they assumed contractual obligations were not ready at the beginning of these contracts to put the capacity the contracts would have required and they are sorting these delays out as we speak so the apology was an apology of the moment of the start of the contracts i'm telling you again if you will succeed in our still a vaccination strategy the fact is mr sheen as the people will have died in europe waiting for you to take decisions and get them the vaccines that could have saved their life someone should take responsibility for that and resign or is there no accountability in this commission of yours. we are fully accountable to the european parliament to w

union in the european union politicians do not authorize boxing's they don't have knowledge eyes either doing an independent regulatory agency. and i think the process we are not in the course this is not a sprint it's a mar now yes to the question of apology that i leave the humiliating party you to to describe but this was something the president stated the obvious that these companies with whom we had contractual relations and they assumed contractual obligations were not ready at the beginning of these contracts to put the capacity the contracts would have required it and they are sorting this release out as we speak so the apology was an apology of the moment of the start of the contracts i'm telling you again if you will succeed in our style of oxidation strategy the fact is mr sheen as the people will have died in europe waiting for you to take decisions and get them the vaccines that could have saved their life someone should take responsibility for that and resign or is there no accountability in this commission of yours. we are fully accountable to the european parliament to w

union what to hungary's european partners make of. well as you can imagine brussels was not very happy about that for the european union for the european commission the reason why they were so eager to have a common big scene rollout and vaccine strategy is was to make sure that every member state will get in there fix scenes that no one is left behind so to see hung with breaking with the vaccine strategy no way no one is happy about that because defected hungry is the 1st state in the european union to approve and now to administer the chinese vaccine also seen as a huge credibility boost for beijing that is seen by the european union as a systemic rival but we also have to say that member states are allowed to buy the scenes outside of the contracts that the european union signed collectively floor for its members with different vaccine makers lots of eve member states or trust rated about the slow pace of rollout of the covert vaccines what are the chances that some of those states might follow hungary's lead well i think we canno

speed up the rollout within the european union and how is the european commission going to prevent any more delays in distribution but unfortunately it appears the commission president or the funded lion doesn't have any breakthroughs to report she will probably stress that distributions are increasing with every day that new task force has identified potential locations that can be used to ramp up their production but of course true it's true that the roll out within the european union remains slow and this is indeed bad news for all member states and specially for those like the czech republic were really suffering facing a new wave of infections and seeing. hospital system on the brink of collapsing so we're very sluggish are all out is there a sense of urgency where you are because leaders appeared very rattled when some team vaccine manufacturers announced that they would reduce deliveries because of production problems that they were experiencing are we likely to see the e.u. pile on the pressure on the likes of astra zeneca for instance. yes the european commission is saying tha

to be arriving here in the european union. artists was rocked by street clashes over the weekend around 5000 people and all demonstrated against the new security bill which gives extra surveillance powers to french police. i. i. guess it's more of a message the right to free assembly and restrict press freedom dozens of rallies were held across france where fell for 30000 people taking part that's according to the interior minister told the 35 arrests were made over the. tensions also we're not there for officers there reportedly injured in clashes police in the 7 claim radical behavior from rioters it is routinely going on polish we heard from a representative of a french police. i. was. there is a part of the population which resents the police sometimes this resentment is ideological which means that we have both left and right wing protesters hostile to the police and sometimes just resentment this from people threaten and tear against protests we feel anger towards the police we can legitimately wonder both about the effe

union what to hungary's european partners make of the. well as you can imagine brussels is not very happy about that for the european union for the european commission the reason why they were so eager to have a common big scene rollout and vaccine strategy is was to make sure that every member state will get in their fix scenes that no one is left behind so to see hunger is breaking with the vaccine strategy no way no one is happy about that because defect that hungry is the 1st state in the european union to approve and now to administer the chinese vaccine also seen as as a huge credibility boost for beijing that is seen by the european union as a systemic rival but we also have to say that member states are allowed to buy the scenes outside of the contracts that the european union signed collectively floor for its members with different vaccine makers lots of eve member states or frustrated about the slow pace of rollout of the covert vaccines what are the chances that some of those states might follow hungary's lead well i think we c

union on making sure the relationships between the european union and its mediterranean neighbors are strong are solely on our. develop a sense of car responsibility so as not not patronize saying not telling the other side what he has to do but from a car responsibility point of view we need we have huge issues that we need to deal with the mediterranean sea is a fragile sea we need to make sure that we all contribute to preserving biodiversity and preserving this sea that is also a source of blue wealth to all of us we've got climate change that is of concern to all of us we've got an energy transition there are lots of. energy producing countries in the mediterranean we have youth unemployment a huge preoccupation in populations that are extremely young we've got to fight terrorism together and extra means them so we are very clear that this is our agenda and we've been championing this agenda for decades now it's not for nothing that the. relationship with the mediterranean is called the barcelona process started 1905. spain will continue to lead that process in the e.u. so cultur

union on making sure the relationships between the european union and its mediterranean neighbors are strong are solely on our develop on a sense of car responsibilities so as not not patronize saying not telling the other side what he has to do but from a car responsibility point of view we need we have huge issues that we need to deal with the mediterranean seas a fragile sea we need to make sure. that we all contribute to preserving biodiversity and preserving this sea that is also a source of blue wealth to all of us we've got climate change that is of concern to all of us we've got an energy transition there are lots of. energy producing countries in the mediterranean we have youth unemployment a huge preoccupation in populations that are extremely young we've got to fight terrorism together and extra means them so we are very clear that this is our agenda and we've been championing this agenda for decades now it's not for nothing that the e.u.'s relationship with the mediterranean is called the barcelona process started. 1905. spain will continue to lead the process in the e.u.

union while the job of savaging that the european union and particularly the e.u. commission president on the line over this whole mess has fallen to the british press received a number of headlines incredibly critical of brussels a stance the world health organization though has waded in as well saying vaccine nationalism needs to stop as it doesn't help anybody if we lose trust in international collaboration so what i've seen nationalism we will all pay the price in terms of a protracted we only brawl on the plunder me more vaccine talk set for monday is there's a summit taking place at least a virtual summit taking place from here in berlin concerning what happens next when it comes to germany and the vaccine program we heard from the german health minister last week saying that it was 10 weeks behind where we'd like it to be the news coming in is that there will be an extra 75000000 doses of the pfizer by on tech vaccine made available to the european union perhaps that will help calm some of the tensions regarding just who is getting these vaccines and when th

union where the job of savaging that the european union and particularly e.u. commission president on the line over this whole mess has fallen to the british press receive a number of headlines incredibly critical of brussels a stance the world health organization though has waded in as well saying vaccine nationalism needs to stop as it doesn't help anybody if we lose translate into motion i'm going to lucian soon nationalism we will all pay the price in terms of a protracted we only prolong the plunder me more vaccine talk set for monday is there's a summit taking place or at least a virtual summit taking place from here in berlin concerning what happens next when it comes to germany and the vaccine program we heard from the german health minister last week saying that it was 10 weeks behind where you'd like it to be the news coming in is that there will be an extra $75000000.00 doses of the pfizer buy on tech vaccine made available to the european union perhaps that will help calm some of the tensions regarding just who is getting these vaccines and when the

union but that russia is willing to make amends if the european union also wants to do the same. the framework of the relations between russia and the youth has been deliberately destroyed by brussels we must be a group of developments it's up to the e.u. to choose if they decide that relations must be rebuilt or burst will also be ready for it well this latest developments all off the back of the jailing of kremlin critic alexei no violently he's looking at 2 and a half years in a penal colony for breaching the terms of a suspended sentence that was handed down to him in 2014 when he was found guilty of having defrauded a french cosmetics company we are expecting to find out in about a week's time according to yossi but al exactly who will be the target of the sanctions and what those sanctions will directly and tail. lights germany now then for the thoughts of geopolitical analysts right of office welcome back to r.t. international the update then is that moscow says that demand for his release is unacceptable it interference in russia's internal affairs is it really that serio

union on making sure the relationships between the european union and its mediterranean neighbors are strong are solely on our develop on a sense of car responsibilities so as not not patronize saying not telling the other side what he has to do but from a car responsibility point of view we need we have huge issues that we need to deal with the mediterranean seas a fragile sea we need to make sure. that we all contribute to preserving biodiversity and preserving this sea that is also a source of blue wealth to all of us we've got climate change that is of concern to all of us we've got an energy transition there are lots of. energy producing countries in the mediterranean we have youth unemployment a huge preoccupation in populations that are extremely young we've got to fight terrorism together and extra means them so we are very clear that this is our agenda and we've been championing this agenda for decades now it's not for nothing that the. relationship with the mediterranean is called the barcelona process started. 1905. spain will continue to lead the process in the e.u. so con

virus at least when it comes to the european union special reportorially being the shooter now joins me from brussels levey thanks so much for coming on i mean the e.u. is in the news for nearly destroying the good friday agreement for a vaccination war your report suggesting that well what's called the often the greatest capitalist project in history is not fit for purpose how did you arrive at that conclusion. but essentially my report tries to show that the e.u. is not willing crits to comment on beauty because it has organized competition between the member states in matters in the area of wages and and social contributions for years we refer to this as to school dumping in social them and also because it imposes on member states very tights macroeconomy street jackets in order to avoid macroeconomy imbalances across the e.u. this makes it very difficult for states to spend money on social investment at the risk of increasing their public that until today is a unique opportunity to really rethink these issues and perhaps better recruit the youth to it to alleviate poverty within

union so i think it's really depends on whether the european union is able as it is promising to speed up big scene roll out our brussels bureau chief alexander phenomena joining us thank you very much. sports now in tennis arena williams has overcome the 2nd seed here simona halep in the australian open williams brushed past in straight sets 6363 the 39 year old american is going for a record equalling 24th grand slam title next up is a semifinal meeting against japan zomi who beat williams in the 2018 u.s. open final. in football byron munich returned back to bundesliga business after winning the club world cup in qatar and found themselves in the middle of a blizzard on monday night byron were expected to steam past the le felt but the visitors began the match looking much more at home in the conditions. it was a less than warm welcome home for biron after they were crowned club world champions in the heat of qatar it looked like they'd become a little too used to the middle east and weather as bielefeld caught them cold. michelle club made it one nil after just 19 minutes. you'll f

wide response from the european union and then of course we talk about sanctions. sanctions of course are complex issues only last month where you foreign affairs ministers were sitting down in brussels around the same issue they failed to agree on imposing new sanctions on russia there is no unity in the e.u. around this so that window of a portion of the last the next the fortunately might be perhaps next month there will be an e.u. summit in brussels for heads of state and governments and there of course leaders could examine the possibility to introduce new sanctions having said that though the summit as only next month which means as a diplomatic relation is pretty late it's pretty slow. a court in turkey has again rejected an appeal for the release of a prominent businessman and philanthropist. has been in prison for more than 3 years accused of espionage and attempting to overthrow the government following a failed coup in turkey and 2016 human rights groups have denounced the proceedings as unjust and politically motivated and say detention is aimed at sile

meanwhile the european union and the u.k. have clashed over vaccine supplies germany has threatened astra zeneca with legal action over a faxing delay saying the company should face penalties if it gives britain preferential treatment. if it turns out that individual company is not complying with the legations a decision must be made to both legal consequences well while we've heard of threats of legal action from peter out by just there the german economy minister there are some signs of a reporter being attempted to be made but in this 3 way dispute between the european union the united kingdom and the pharmaceutical giant astra zeneca the vaccine manufacturer has said that an extra $9000000.00 doses of the job will be sent to the european union in the 1st quarter of 2021 the total to be delivered through till march open to up to $40000000.00 now that's still well short of the 102120 1000000 that the e.u. was promised back in august of last year but a slip on the line the e.u. commission president tweeted out that she's hap

from the founders of the european union the limitations the deliberate limiting of union power as part of the project well against the project was that the economy would be under the supervision of the the e use compazine as you call it the european commission in particular and that the social dimension should be left to the member states who should be free to develop social policies the problem is you cannot meet that distinction it is not a watertight distinction you can trace and of course the economy choice is done and you can level effect your mistakes to conduct social policies at domestic level in particular because to finance or protection schemes you need to have progressive taxation which you cannot afford to have if you're competing across the e.u. with other member states so we have to rethink the construct and that is why in my report i call for rethinking those choices now as a crisis has shown the fragility of the european situation because as we've built i'm sure. i've met a few of the lobbyists of multinationals in brussels as regards salary increases what do you think

union in the european union politicians do not authorize boxing's they don't have knowledge eyes either doing an independent regulatory agency. and i think the process we are not in the course this is not a sprint it's a mar now yes to the question of apology that i believe the humiliating part you do to describe but this was something the president stated the obvious that these companies with whom we had contractual relations and they assumed contractual obligations were not ready at the beginning of these contracts to put the capacity the contracts would have required it and they are sorting this release out as we speak so the apology was an apology of the moment of the start. i'm telling you again if you will succeed in our still a vaccination strategy the fact is mr sheen as the people will have died in europe waiting for you to take decisions and get them the vaccines that could have saved their life someone should take responsibility for that and resign or is there no accountability in this commission of yours. we are fully accountable to the european parliament to which we which

is developing but i mean what evidence do you have that there are voices within the european union over the angle of merkel now leaving and even more neo liberal voices arguably in but then may emerge what what evidence have you got that people are taking on board your suggestions and your. issues in your report seriously at all well there is a rethinking about which is called the european semester process which is basically a process by which the budgets of the member states are being screened by your commission and member states are given recommendations as to how to improve macroeconomic policy conversions that to be thought distribution growth that it is this economy street jacket it pulls on states in order to ensure that the big the euro the currency share is projected is also be rethought so there is now a unique opportunity to rethink the choices meet that in the 19 eighties and 1900 that have truly been to fragile i social protection systems across the e.u. well we'll be monitoring this rethinking as you as you call it on this show i mean like we were covering the g.l.a. john p

another setback for the european union's vaccination rollout. astrazeneca over reportedly miss its vaccindeliveryarget date yet again. we will get reaction from brussels. plus strike a deal. and a massive cleanup operation underway in israel after an oil spill covered much of the country's mediterranean coastline leaving and a thick tar. -- leaving it in thick tar. ♪ i'm brent goff. to our viewers on pbs inli the united states and around the world, welcome. her murder four years ago sparked international outrage. in of the three men accused of murdering the maltese journalist has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. it came after he unexpectedly changed his plea to guilty and admitted all the charges against him. she had been exposing corruption in the country's political and business elite when she died in a car bomb attack. her murder sparked angry protest and led to the resignation of the country's prime minister. three new suspects were arrested on tuesday on suspicion of supplying the bomb that killed her. for more, let's go to keith in

union is doing now what i find deeply distressing is that the european union has adopted this new principle of individual sanctions on the basis that it's the protector of human rights but we all just heard barel now in that clip you've just shown that burrell the european union's high representative for foreign policy saying we have taken a political decision to impose sanctions does he not understand what he is saying a sanction is a form of punishment in this case it involves powerful bans and asset freezes but what what process has there been to permit a political decision to impose punishment a political decision to impose punishment is a death is a is a case study in violation of human the european union by taking political decisions about who to punish in russia is itself violating the most basic principles of justice you can't punish people on the basis of a political decision you know what a law or russia has a and sure to make conditions even worse for diplomacy. well that's what i meant what i said about madness you know doing the same thing it compulsively and getting the same r

be manufactured inside the european union while france and germany have both said that it would be a useful addition to the e.u.'s vaccine arsenal hungary got a head start on other e.u. member states they approved it unilaterally away from brussels is one for all and all for one vaccine program and 5 top budapest has already received the 1st tranche of doses of the 2000000 that it ordered it's understood that the czech republic could well be the next member state to follow hungary's lead the russian sputnik the vaccine is set for approval by the european medicines agency here in the e.u. sometime this month. state of new york's revealed bird nursing home deaths from cove it is almost double the number previously reported new data shows that more than 13000 care home residents have died from cope with since last march that includes those who were taken to hospital and died there the statistics are far worse than those published in november and were only released by the health department after a court order we spoke to the daughter of one nursing home resident who died during the pande

at all on the other hand we have to say that death was of course a reason for the european union to move slowly much slowly than the u.k. for example or israel and mistakes were made that was e.u. commission president or that i funded lie and said repeatedly we were too to a late granting also ization we were too optimistic with regards to mass production of vaccines and we were also too naive maybe to believe that everything will arrive in time but still i think this approach to to procure vaccines to give or so that everyone will have eventually enough of them to inoculate its population was the right step for whites decision to do. dr mcgovern your opening statement says that supply locked and supply shortages are standard they're normal and you're essentially cautioning everybody to just be patient and in fact we do hear that there will be a great newer vaccine coming online in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of this year but the question is how much time do we have how quickly do we need to get the vaccine into people's arms in view of these new mutations should have done the months a

waves for out brussels because the european union's leaders understand a laugh rose on in effect the words of latham a person after all so laugh off is not responsible for russian foreign policy making lies we've made coats and now it is not in the interests for the vast majority of e.u. member states for there to be a further deterioration in relations between the e.u. and of us a federation i say the vast majority of e.u. member states would not want a further deterioration. and there are some the boat it states and poland and those are merely conduit for western aggression against russia but essence to fowles and 14th western companies for example construction companies and agricultural companies have been severely could say what's in their ability to export to russia and they have suffered extensively as a result of that now if the european union does impose additional sanctions on russia then russia inevitably will take a very direct response who is going to suffer more its will be those companies within the european union for example agricultural companies in spain italy and gr

sprouts brussels because the european union's leaders understand . on in effect the words of latham a person after all 2nd left off is not responsible for russian foreign policy making lies we've made coats and now it is not in the interests for the vast majority of e.u. member states for there to be afraid of its very a shift in relations between the e.u. and of us a federation i say the vast majority of e.u. member states would not want a further deterioration. and there are some the both 6 states and poland and those are merely conduit for western aggression against russia but ever since 2 fouls and 14 western companies for example construction companies and agricultural companies have been severely could say what's in their ability to export to russia and they have suffered extensively as a result of that now if the european union does impose additional sanctions on russia then russia inevitably will take a very direct response who is going to suffer more its will be those companies within the european union for example agricultural companies in

passport that would be recognized in within the european union and all members of the european union are phenomena brussels bureau chief thank you and some other development in the pandemic a large study from israel indicates that the biotech pfizer vaccine works as well in the real world as it did in clinical trials of the study published in the new england journal of medicine shows that the vaccine offers very high protection against covert 19 meanwhile india has reported its highest number of cases in nearly a month more than half were recorded in the maharashtra state's home to the financial capital moved by and the world health organization says we need more understanding of long term 1000 symptoms it says listening to patients affected by a long cold it should be a priority for every health authority. facebook has removed all accounts linked to me in maher's military social media giant says the military is using the platform to incite violence against peaceful protest the army has been imposing an increasingly violent crackdown on protesters they have once have been once again

do you think the european union will learn | european union will learn something from the approach that serbia is taking? to something from the approach that serbia is taking?- that serbia is taking? to be honest, that serbia is taking? to be honest. i— that serbia is taking? to be honest, i think _ that serbia is taking? to be honest, i think the - that serbia is taking? to be honest, i think the world i that serbia is taking? to be l honest, i think the world has something to learn from serbia. i think the world needs to go back to that. when we see covax, the un had to actually sit down to see what are the needs of the world.- sit down to see what are the needs of the world. china may be the other _ needs of the world. china may be the other big _ needs of the world. china may be the other big winners. - needs of the world. china may be the other big winners. its l be the other big winners. its vaccine has received a presidential welcome on arrival in belgrade, sending a clear signal to brussels about beating's increasing clout in the region. beating's increasing clout in the regio

from the founders of the european union the limitations the deliberate limiting of union power as part of the project well against the project was that the economy would be under the supervision of the the e use to try to see as you call it the european commission in particular and that the social dimension should be left to the member states who should be free to develop social policies the problem is you cannot meet that distinction it is not a watertight distinction you can trace and of course the economy choice is done and you can level affect you if you're going estates to conduct social policies at domestic level in particular because to finance or protection schemes you need to have progressive taxation which you cannot afford to have if you're competing across the e.u. with other member states so we have to rethink the construct and that is why in my report i call for rethinking those choices now as a crisis has shown the fragility of the european integration process we've built i'm sure. i've met a few of the lobbyists of all the national in brussels as regards salary increase

union was very quick to crack down on that i think the european commission could here as well take up a role to actually guarantee fundamental freedoms like the freedom of movement within the european union mark going to happen member of the european parlance or thank you for joining us. to west africa now and nigeria where once again a mass abduction has targeted school children and their families this time gunmen have kidnapped over 300 girls at a boarding school in the town of john good day in some far off states witnesses told local media that hundreds of armed men attacked security guards before they took the girls in recent months heavily armed criminal gangs have ramped up attacks on schools and kidnapping children to hold them for ransom and now earlier we spoke to. who explained what we know so far well this school goes where abducted and the friday morning in the augusta country school in jane get it down which is on back to la to my foot on local government to present what we're hearing is that nigeria and i meet possum there and that desk duty forces. christian these by in

union that help would come but there is nothing to see it and even within the european union with hungry for example who approved the chinese vaccine one of them and who also is using. the 5 you see that china and to russia with their strategy of presenting themselves as a savior saviors of the word they are quite successful even in the european union hungary of course is an outlier in other respects within the e.u. at the moment as well is this a political statement on the part of hungary that it's looking to these countries for support on vaccines and what do you think are the implications for relations within the e.u. briefly if you would. yes so we have to of course consider the tanguy has always had good relations with moscow historically speaking but this is very embarrassing for the repeal of the union because it also shows that it was not as successful at it claims to be securing enough it seems for the rippin union. let me take the same question to a cut in china is also offering to supply vaccines widely across africa what would you say would be the long term political implicat

but it's not for everybody who would like to move to the european union. and that is clear, to make the disstimping shon between those who need to say and should be welcome to open new legal pathways to european union, they should be welcome. if you come illegally and then have a negative decision, you have to return. this is also important part of our policy. >> all people we talked to said they tried to reach multiple times, sometimes 30 times and pushed back sometimes violently by border forces. >> we are in close contact with the authorities on this issue and working together with them to set up a monitoring mechanism to make sure these violent members of the committee nisms do not take place. this morning i had a meeting with the ministers responsible on specifically this topic. we are working with the crow asiaion authorities and government because it is not acceptable that people are being rm beaten up and being pushed up. >> all the reports show -- how has the e.u. tolerated the last couple of years what is happening in your country? >> we cannot t

union on making sure the relationships between the european union and its mediterranean neighbors are strong are solely on our. develop a sense of car responsibility so as not not patronize saying not telling the other side what he has to do but from a car responsibility point of view we need we have huge issues that we need to deal with the mediterranean sea is a fragile sea we need to make sure that we all contribute to preserving biodiversity and preserving this see that is also a source of blue wealth to all of us we've got climate change that is of concern to all of us we've got an energy transition there are lots of. energy producing countries in the mediterranean we have youth unemployment a huge preoccupation in populations that are extremely young we've got to fight terrorism together and extremism so we are very clear that this is our agenda and we've been championing this agenda for decades now it's not for nothing that the. relationship with the mediterranean is called the barcelona process started. 1905. spain will continue to lead the process in the e.u. so that in the s

sprouts brussels because the european union's leaders understand a laugh rose on in effect the words of lad amir peretz an author who say left off is not responsible for russian foreign policy making bad lies we've made coats and now it is not in the interests for the vast majority of e.u. member states for there to be a further deterioration in relations between the e.u. and of us a federation i say the vast majority of e.u. member states would not want a further deterioration. and there are some the both $68.00 and poland and those are merely conduit for western aggression against russia but ever since 2 fouls and 14 western companies for example construction companies and agricultural companies have been severely could say words in their ability to export to russia and they have suffered extensively as a result of that now if the european union does impose additional sanctions on russia then russia inevitably will take a very direct response who is going to suffer more its will be those companies within the european union for example agricultural companies in spain italy and greec

and to be arriving here in the european union. are moving on now paris was rocked by a fresh bout of violent protests over the weekend as around 5000 people demonstrated against france's global security bill which will restrict the filming of police on posting of that images on mine. if. you've. critics of the draft legislation see it as a threat to press freedom despite government promises to rewrite the controversial article 24 many still oppose the idea dozens of rallies were also held across france with over 32000 people taking part according to the interior minister a total of $35.00 arrests were made over the weekend one of the places where tensions spilled out into the streets was not 4 police officers reportedly injured in clashes it comes hours police in the city have complained that radical rioters often avoid conviction we heard from a representative of a french police union. and he shared his fears on the situation. you know that there is a part of the population which resents the police sometimes this resentment is id

and hungary for violating the values of the european union. procedures have begun in the european parliament, but, frankly, right now they appear to be going nowhere. for you, as a minister in the french government, do you want to see the eu institutions take punitive action for the violations which have been alleged concerning rule of law, independent judiciary, freedom of expression in poland and hungary? yes, i think we need stronger tools. and when there are breaches of rule of law, concretely, independence ofjustice, independence of media, for instance, we need to take sanctions. we have procedures which are existing at eu level already, which are not able to lead to sanctions, because in the end it's unanimity, so de—facto it's blocked by the countries which are targeted by this programme. so nothing can happen. no, that's the existing framework. we just added another tool, which i think is very important, not technical, very political, which is a conditionality mechanism between the eu budget, the eu financing and the respect of rule

sprouts brussels because the european union's leaders understand a laugh rose on in effect the words of last amir peretz an author who left off is not responsible for russian foreign policy making lies we've made coats and now it is not in the interests for the vast majority of e.u. member states for there to be afraid of its very a shift in relations between the e.u. and of us a federation i say the vast majority of e.u. member states would not want a further deterioration. and there are some the both $68.00 and poland and those are merely conduit for western aggression against russia but essence to files and 14th western companies for example construction companies and agricultural companies have been severely could say what's in their ability to export to russia and they have suffered extensively as a result of that now if the european union does impose additional sanctions on russia then russia inevitably will take a very direct response who is going to suffer more its will be those companies within the european union for example agricultural companies in spain italy and greece w

are central to our common future both for the european union and russia. but at the same time there are issues in which we can and must work together because when we do good crystals the minister has been mentioning several of them and i griped to his works . the culture side and do research on health and phasing in maintain on the arctic on climate on digital we have a lot of things that can be done and to deep engagement from both sides and get benefits in a tangible way. on the international arena i think the minister has made reference to all of that there are places and issues in which we can all or together is a good example middle east peace process we agree on the need to engage in this process to dream the good idea courtot and to try to work together and engage also the new u.s. administration. on the green economy. green the able to fight climate change and in what i'm in the chair inches will give also a lot of opportunities to cooperate. we count on. to make a success on the next classical conference and to cooperate you know to to prepare to

european union the using more and more unilateral action are legitimate interests and there we build our lives common but your opinion that they making a bad european union is not part of the rest ways so the q now but you can you and that strategic in the reviewed. believe it will. european union and there are an ape or 0 points and maybe it would help that he could do a great shame ward at the constructed bridge gallery araby irrigation intellectual and think that inclusion at the with would like to grab the internal it's not the media it's problem that these ads add regarding the test results had that. germany and france need to. burn when it's such a huge elite easy to loot if they commit to stay young they take even smaller stories send them along and sing the c. ter in their publications and. and then there are questions at all it is time you are amazingly asked if i don't understand why it's happening and i hope that you have to give them a trip that will not use the for this inherent skill of any externality if you're iansiti before and so it was in the theater it's so hard t

union so i think it's really depends on whether the european union is able as it is promising to speed up its big scene roll out our brussels bureau chief alexander phenomena joining us thank you very much. let's get a look now at some of the latest developments in the pandemic a court in the netherlands has ordered the government to immediately lift a nighttime curfew that's been in place since january the court said the curfew lacked any proper legal basis the world health organization has granted emergency authorization to astra zeneca corona virus vaccine enabling the u.n. agencies partners to ship millions of doses to countries worldwide peru's president says almost 500 government officials are being investigated after secretly receiving early vaccinations for the virus the vaccine was then made available for doctors and other health workers and mexico has started rolling out vaccinations to its senior citizens it started vaccinating health workers in december but delayed vaccine shipments have made a slow start to the 2nd phase. and let's get a round of now of some other headline

the european union while france and germany have both said that it would be a useful addition to the e.u.'s vaccine arsenal hungary got a head start on other e.u. member states they approved it unilaterally away from brussels as one for all and all for one vaccine program and 5 budapest has already received the 1st tranche of doses of the $2000000.00 that it ordered it it's understood that the czech republic could well be the next e.u. member states to follow hungary's lead the russian sputnik the vaccine is set for approval by the european medicines agency here in the e.u. sometime this month. meantime italy remains one of the worst hit covert hotspots in europe now one of tallinn regions breed a strict lockdown after registering its 1st case of the war contagious british mutation it's thought to be spreading faster than other strains with fears that that could worsen the situation across the whole of the country like the rest of the e.u. italy suffering vaccine shortages in fact it only got its 1st batch of britain's astra zeneca job on saturday itself to rome threatened legal acti

and the european union. and they put themselves in a situation to provide a lot of doses to some countries. some are in into golf and some african countries. with unclear diplomatic successes. and it can provide the ideas that they are more efficient than the approach we had a few months ago. but i think if we have a comprehensive and coordinated approach, i think on the very long run we can be more efficient. and this is what i want to advocate. because on the very short term, we can be impressed by the chinese efficiency, this is true. this is a little bit humiliating for us as leaders, perhaps as countries. i received a few days ago no need to go to africa or poor countries, the serbian president was here. he get access to vaccines thanks to chinese corporation to be very direct with you. with clear and genuine remark, these are more efficient. but what we are seeing is i think much more complicated in the way to address it, especially for poor and emerging countries is likely more sophisticated. number o

at all on the other hand we have to say that death was of course a reason for the european union to move slowly much slowly or than the u.k. for example or israel and mistakes were made that was e.u. commission president or that i funded lie and said repeatedly we were too little too late granting also ization we were too optimistic with regards to mass production of vaccines and we were also too naive maybe to believe that everything will arrive in time but still i think this approach to to procure vaccines together for so that everyone will have eventually enough of them to inoculate its population was the right step for whites decision to do. dr mcgovern your opening statement says that supply locked supply shortages are standard their normal and you're essentially cautioning everybody to just be patient and in fact we do hear that there will be a great more vaccine coming online in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of this year but the question is how much time do we have how quickly do we need to get the vaccine into people's arms in view of these new mutations should have done the. mon