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Cyprus's audit office said on Thursday (24 September) thousands of passports could have been granted without proper authorisation under the island's citizenship-for-investment scheme - a programme critics fear could be used by money-launderers and other criminals.

Kenya's candidate to become the next head of the World Trade Organisation pledged on Thursday to integrate climate change issues into the WTO agenda if selected.

The European Commission's new food policy should be reviewed if a future impact assessment shows that it will negatively affect farmers, the newly-elected chair of farmers association COPA, Christiane Lambert, told EURACTIV.com.

Written by Maria Niestadt,

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To raise awareness of the importance of tourism, we mark World Tourism Day each year on 27 September. This year, however, World Tourism Day comes at a very particular time, with the tourism sector facing an unprecedented crisis due to the measures introduced to contain the spread of the coronavirus. In August 2020, the United Nations (UN) forecast a 58‑78 % reduction in international tourist arrivals in 2020. The crisis is affecting all countries, including several EU countries that are heavily dependent on tourism. Although travel has slowly restarted, travel demand and tourism confidence are at record lows and unemployment is rising across the sector. The same UN policy brief estimates that 100 to 120 million direct tourism jobs worldwide are at risk, with women, young people and informal workers the most vulnerable. National travel restrictions in response to an uptick in Covid‑19 case numbers suggest that the sector will continue to face uncertainty for the remainder of the year, and into the next.

Although the EU has few powers in the tourism area, it has played an important coordinating role, by issuing guidelines and recommendations to help EU countries gradually lift travel restrictions and allow the safe resumption of travel. It has also taken steps to coordinate national travel rules and advice, which are often inconsistent. Travellers are confused by the constantly changing rules and advice, while at the same time struggling to apply their rights, in particular when their journeys are cancelled due to the pandemic.

The EU has also worked to provide tourism businesses with much-needed liquidity and support to retain their workforce, in addition to helping EU countries support their tourism businesses by relaxing EU fiscal and State aid rules. Furthermore, tourism is one of the sectors that can benefit from the €750 billion European recovery instrument (Next Generation EU) and various programmes in the EU’s long-term budget – although the absence of a dedicated budget line for tourism does not make it easy to quantify the amounts that will go to support the sector.

Parliament is following developments in the tourist sector with a keen interest. In a June 2020 resolution, it made suggestions for additional tourism support measures, including a dedicated budget line in the EU budget. Parliament has also called for a move to more sustainable forms of tourism that respect both the environment and our cultural heritage.

The European Commission's plan to fence off the EU's industrial crown jewels from state-backed foreign buyers may breach WTO rules, lobbying group the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU said in its feedback on the proposal.

The United Nations and Britain will host an online climate summit in December, the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement, in a last-ditch bid to have countries meet a deadline to upgrade their emissions-cutting pledges.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about the political spat between the UK and Italy, Germany's military agency head resigning, and so much more.

The European Union raised the alarm on Thursday (24 September) over the coronavirus pandemic, saying it is worse now than at the March peak in several member countries, as governments in Europe and beyond reimpose drastic measures.

The COVID-19 crisis has been used as a cover for hybrid operations in the EU, the Bulgarian Interior Ministry stated on Thursday (24 September). EURACTIV Bulgaria reports.

Now is not the time to call for the government’s first intergovernmental session for North Macedonia to start accession talks between North Macedonia and the EU, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Krasimir Karakachanov has said. Although North Macedonia would be doing...

Salih Mustafa, who has been accused for war crimes in Kosovo, was arrested yesterday (24 September) and brought to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. Mustafa is the first publicly indicted and arrested person since the Court was founded in 2015. A...

Giorgiana Hosu, who headed the anti-mafia prosecutor office, resigned Thursday (24 September), hours after her husband who was convicted on corruption charges, had received a three-year suspended prison sentence with the possibility to appeal the verdict. Dan Hosu received a...

The Serbian leadership signed an agreement in Washington in order to advance the achievement of the so-called “Serbian world", and that risks opening the Pandora's box in the whole region of the Western Balkans, writes Filip Milacic.

Slovenia’s state macroeconomic office UMAR forecast on Thursday (24 September) that the national economy would fall 6.7% this year, an improvement on its previous prediction for a 7.6% GDP contraction. The office said the economy could return to pre-crisis levels...

The COVID-19 pandemic which has spread heavily in the Czech Republic and six other European countries: Malta, Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Croatia, is a great concern for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Among these countries,...

Ruling New Democracy party (EPP) cannot find a rapporteur to speak positively about the three memoranda of understanding with North Macedonia that need to pass through the Greek parliament. Read more. When in opposition, New Democracy fiercely opposed the North-Macedonia...

After UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Italy and Germany had fewer COVID-19 cases than the UK because “Britain is a freedom-loving country”, Italian President Sergio Mattarella replied, saying that “Italians love their freedom too, but also care about...

Due to the worsening COVID-19 situation in Europe, the Finnish government decided on Thursday (24 September) to reinstate travel restrictions that were eased less than a week ago. From next Monday (28 September), Finnish citizens can travel only to six...