European Union

Registrations of electric cars in Europe jumped 57.4% in the first quarter of 2020, but still only accounted for 4.3% of total registrations, auto industry data showed on Tuesday, as carmakers struggle to meet tough new anti-pollution rules.

Austria aims to ease some border controls with Switzerland within days and to end all controls by June, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told Swiss broadcaster SRF on Tuesday (12 May), as countries push ahead with loosening COVID-19 restrictions.

With the presentation of the long-awaited Farm to Fork strategy due in the coming days, EURACTIV took a look at the potential that insects hold for contributing to the goals of the strategy and creating a more self-reliant, sustainable food system in the EU.

Poland's main opposition grouping threatened on Tuesday (12 May) to block planning for a delayed presidential election, accusing the ruling coalition of rushing a voting plan through parliament for political gain.

The European Commission will later on Wednesday (13 May) publish a common rulebook for voluntary travel vouchers, which advises that state aid could be used to set up guarantee funds, according to documents seen by EURACTIV.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has remained silent over the off-label use of a drug to induce labour which has, according to media investigations, led to severe health implications and even deaths.

Germany must help its European Union neighbours revive their economies after the coronavirus crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel told a meeting of lawmakers from her conservative bloc on Tuesday (12 May), according to several participants.

EU diplomats will "never again" allow Chinese censorship of EU statements, foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has said, after a dispute, last week, in which the EU ambassador to Beijing took out a sensitive line on the origin of coronavirus from an EU statement due to Chinese pressure. "Something like this will not happen again, and it was not the right decision to take," Borrell said on Tuesday.

EU countries should avoid slashing defence spending under pressure from the economic fallout of the coronavirus, the EU’s chief diplomat Joseph Borrell said on Tuesday (13 May), warning that the COVID-19 crisis could spark unforeseen security challenges.

Czech TV has named Russian diplomat Andrei Konchakov, the head of the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Prague, a spy who smuggled the poison ricin into the country intending to poison three Czech local politicians highly critical of Russia. Both Konchakov and the Russian embassy denied it. Russia was the victim of "false and unfounded" allegations, it said. He had brought sweets and disinfectant, not ricin, Konchakov said.

EU told a black-and-white tale of 20 sinful states who posed a money-laundering threat to Europe's law-abiding single market, but the real story is more complex.

The European Commission is set to announce a three-phase approach on Wednesday to gradually reopen internal borders. However, concerns over how the principle of free movement in the EU will be affected is growing - as countries announce different approaches.

Europe today is the continent of the solid 15-20 percent party which means loads of energy gets absorbed just by keeping coalitions together and majorities stable.

To succeed Timmermans needs to stand up to governments and vested interests rushing to reboot economies crashed by the coronavirus. That means ensuring the trillions of euros the EU and its member states spend transform rather than entrench polluting industries.

Measures deemed necessary at the start of the epidemic in Europe to stop cross-border contagion are now becoming disproportionate in light of the lighter national internal measures in place, writes Manfred Weber, chairman of the European People's Party.

Brussels Airlines, part of Germany's Lufthansa, said Tuesday it would reduce its fleet by 30 percent and its workforce by a quarter to guarantee its survival during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. The company, which has 4,200 staff, is also asking for support from Lufthansa and the Belgian government, which is considering a possible state aid of €290m if Brussels Airlines continues to operate out of Brussels Airport.

The Italian government has announced, after pressure from regional leaders, that local authorities are allowed to establish their own reopening plan from 18 May on, the Guardian writes. On that day bars, restaurants, hairdressing and beauty salons will reopen across Italy as well as retailers, museums and libraries. Safety measures will need to be implemented, with restaurants required to set distances of four metres between diners.

EU Parliament president David Sassoli said Hungary should send prime minister Viktor Orban to debate, in response to an earlier request by the country's justice minister Judit Varga to participate in Thursday's debate on Budapest's controversial extraordinary measures. In a letter to Orban, Sassoli said "according to the established practice [...] the appropriate level of participation" is that of prime ministers, but added remote participation was not possible.

The European Union renewed its call for a truce in Libya, echoing that made by the United Nations previously. "The European Union demands that all parties act responsibly and immediately cease the fighting all over Libya, which is first and foremost affecting civilians, including migrants, and is placing them at even greater risk," the EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday in a statement.

The Confederation of European Trade Unions (ETUC) call on the EU commission to rethink its proposal not to place Covid-19 in the highest risk group of biological agents, possibly resulting in weaker protection workers' health, the organisation said in a statement. Commission and member states experts will decide on Thursday on the category. ETUC deputy general secretary Per Hilmersson said it is "hard to understand" the commission's proposal.