-
EU looks to increase Etias travel authorisation fee from €7 to €20
Second-home owners and other visitors from the UK and US will need this from autumn 2026
-
What dangerous snakes are in France and what to do if you spot one
Anyone killing a snake risks a fine and potentially a prison sentence
-
Ryanair says flights over France must be protected from air traffic controller strikes
Strikes at start of the month cost airlines over €100 million as budget airline claims workers ‘wanted time off’
Lockdown still needed for vaccinated people French court rules
The argument that people who are fully vaccinated should not have to follow lockdown rules was rejected.

The Conseil d’Etat, France’s supreme court for administrative justice, ruled that curfew and confinement must be followed by everyone, vaccinated or not, to help stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
It said: “Even though the vaccines are effective, they do not completely eliminate the possibility that vaccinated people can become carriers of the virus.”
The court was responding to a plea submitted by an 83-year-old man in Paris, who has received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
As such, he argued that stricter Covid-19 rules should not apply to him and others in his position, as they pose a lower risk of catching and spreading the virus.
His lawyers added that one of the main reasons for introducing confinement rules was to reduce the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals.
As the vaccine limited his risk of hospitalisation and catching or spreading the virus, they asked: “Why does he need to be confined?
“We believe in the vaccine - it works. And there is no justification for confining people who have had it.”
Virus risk still too high
But the court said the risk was still too great as the Covid-19 virus is circulating at high levels in France and new variants are emerging on which the vaccines have not been tested.
It said that, in this context, curfew and confinement measures could not be considered a “disproportionate” infringement of personal freedoms, as the man had suggested in his plea.
Related stories
France Covid vaccine schedule: When will I get my first dose?
Johnson & Johnson to deliver one-dose Covid vaccine to EU on April 19