Europe

Don’t mention the virus
Germany’s management of covid-19 is growing shakier

As infections rise, state and national governments are bickering

Vial stuff
Serbia is outpacing nearly every country in the EU at vaccination

Poor, autocratic and happy to take vaccines from Russia and China

Locked down but not out
Macron loses his bet, and imposes a third confinement in France

The president’s failure to heed scientific advice has hurt his hopes of re-election. But perhaps not fatally

Baltic bards
Latvia’s ancient poetry is getting its first major translation

Dainas are just four lines long, but offer “wisdom to the world”

Charlemagne
How Netflix is creating a common European culture

Streaming subtitled box sets is the new Eurovision

A new hypothesis
The French armed forces are planning for high-intensity war

After a decade of counter-insurgency, plans are changing

In Circe’s lair
A row over land takes Italy back to the Middle Ages

When property rights depend on long-dead popes

Charlemagne
Why the EU is still wary of America

The transatlantic duo are an odd couple

Erdogan’s own goal
A debacle at Turkey’s central bank

Firing yet another central-bank governor was a serious mistake