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Pandemic Apologies and Defiance: Europe's Leaders Increasingly Rattled

Jamie Dettmer

   European leaders are handling rising public frustration, economic
   distress and mounting coronavirus case numbers in different ways, with
   most showing the strain of dealing with a yearlong pandemic, say
   analysts and commentators, who add that the leaders seem to be rattled
   by a third wave of infections sweeping the continent.

   A defiant French President Emmanuel Macron defended his decision to
   avoid a lockdown as the infection rate climbed in January, telling
   reporters last week he had "no remorse" and would not acknowledge any
   failure for the deepening coronavirus crisis engulfing France.

   "There won't be a mea culpa from me," said Macron.

   In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel last week apologized to Germans
   for her initial decision -- now rescinded -- to lock the country down
   tight for Easter. She called the idea a mistake and apologized after a
   hastily arranged videoconference with the country's 16 state governors.
   German Chancellor Angela Merkel answers questions from lawmakers at
   German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, March 24, 2021.

   But she urged fellow Germans to be more optimistic and stop complaining
   about restrictions and vaccine delays.

   "You can't get anywhere if there's always a negative," she said. "It is
   crucial whether the glass is half full or half empty."

   Merkel has likened the third wave of rising coronavirus infections to
   "living in a new pandemic" and encouraged Germans to test themselves
   once a week with rapid tests provided by authorities.

   In France, medical directors from the Paris public health system warned
   in a statement to Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper that soaring
   infections are overwhelming the capital's hospitals. As in Bergamo,
   Italy, a year ago, they say medical staff will soon have to choose
   which patients to treat.

   "We're going straight into the wall," said Catherine Hill, an
   epidemiologist in France. "We're already saturated, and it's become
   totally untenable. We can no longer take in non-COVID patients. It is
   completely mad," she told French radio.

   France's Health Ministry reported 37,014 new coronavirus cases Sunday,
   bringing the country's total number of infections to over 4.5 million.
   Over 94,000 people in the country have died from the virus.
   Medical staff work in the intensive care unit where COVID-19 patients
   are treated at Cambrai hospital, France, March 25, 2021.

   Across Europe, 20,000 people are dying per week, more than a year ago,
   according to the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO has urged
   governments to get back to basics in their handling of the pandemic.
   Central Europe, the Balkans and the Baltic states are also being hit
   hard with cases, hospitalizations and deaths -- among the highest in
   the world.

   Political repercussions

   The pandemic has claimed two political positions, as well. The
   coalition government in Italy headed by Giuseppe Conte collapsed last
   month amid a dispute about how to spend European Union recovery funds.