European Union

Malta's ambassador to Finland has resigned after a Facebook post in which he compared German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Adolf Hitler, The Times of Malta reported.

Many Africans are managing to evade coronavirus lockdown barriers in Niger, the Sahel's migrant crossroads, as they press on with their perilous desert trek to the Mediterranean Sea and ultimately Europe.

France and the Netherlands have joined forces to urge the European Union to enforce environmental and labour standards more forcefully with countries the bloc signs trade deals with, according to a document seen by Reuters.

While European societies take stock on the impact the COVID-19 pandemic on the EU, it has been increasingly common to hear that the pandemic proved the need for the EU to be more strategically sovereign. No doubt about that. But the real test for EU power and its strategic sovereignty won’t be in masks, but on how the EU deals with external problems, not least in its neighbourhood, write Nicu Popescu and Gustav Gressel.

Countries who abuse environmental and labour standards should in future face penal trade tariffs from the EU, the French and Dutch trade ministers have said in a letter to their 25 EU peers, Reuters reports. "Trade policy instruments can provide additional leverage to the implementation of international environmental and labour standards," they said. The policy could impact the US, which reneged on climate change promises, and China.

According to the official data, 11,846 people died in Russia's capital in April of this year, roughly a 20 percent increase from the 10-year average for April deaths, which is 9,866, the Moscow Times reports. The numbers suggest that the city's statistics of coronavirus deaths may be higher in reality than official numbers indicate. Russia confirmed 11,012 new coronavirus infections Sunday, bringing the country's official number of cases to 209,688.

The European Commission might open a legal case against Germany in return for a German case against the European Central Bank (ECB), in which German judges recently said the ECB was wrong to buy bonds from pandemic-struck states and firms. "We are now analysing the [German] ruling ... we will look into possible next steps, which may include the option of infringement proceedings," commission president Ursula von der Leyen said.

An untraced coronavirus outbreak in a Chinese city near the Russian border and a spate of new cases in Wuhan has prompted fears of a fresh wave of infections in China, the Guardian writes. Wuhan has recorded its highest number of new infections since 11 March, reporting five new cases for 10 May, among 17 new cases nationwide, the highest in almost two weeks.

As with all things, COVID-19 is shaking up the EU’s new long-term budget and the Just Transition Fund along with it. For coal dependent member states like Poland, catching up in the clean energy transition may be their only option to avoid losing the battle for EU funding, argue Rebekka Popp and Pieter de Pous.

Cannabis researchers in Canada say the plant-based drug may provide resistance to SARS-CoV-2, Deutsche Welle reports. Their preliminary findings are part of broader research into the use of medicinal cannabis in treating cancer. "The results on Covid-19 came from our studies on arthritis, Crohn's disease, cancer and others," says Dr. Igor Kovalchuck, a professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Lethbridge, in an email to DW.

Belarus held World War 2 memorial parades more or less as normal on 9 May despite the coronavirus pandemic and cancellations of similar events all over Europe on social distancing grounds. Photos showed crowds of thousands of people, military parades, and VIP motorcades in Minsk, with few wearing masks. "Belarus celebrates this significant date at a difficult time," president Aleksander Lukashenko, who has been accused of covering-up infection rates, said.

Malta's ambassador to Finland since 2014, Michael Zammit Tabona, has resigned after posting a message on his Facebook page which said: "Seventy-five years ago we stopped Hitler. Who will stop [German chancellor] Angela Merkel? She has fulfilled Hitler's dream! To control Europe." His post was later deleted and he made no statement. Malta's EU image had previously soured due to corruption scandals and the unsolved murder of a top journalist.

The European Commission could open a legal case against Germany over a ruling by the country's constitutional court that the European Central Bank had overstepped its mandate with bond purchases, the EU executive arm said on Sunday (10 May).

An internal document drafted from the EU presidency highlights a rise in attacks by right-wing terrorists. The paper says the algorithms behind social media giants not only fuels violent radicalisation but also spreads right-wing violent extremist ideology.

Where the hydrogen originates from makes a difference. Experts differentiate between grey, blue and green hydrogen.

MEPs will debate the new EU budget and recovery efforts, Hungary's emergency measures, borders and mobility on coronatimes. Meanwhile EU-UK talks will continue, but with little progress in sight.

The task been transferred from Operation Sophia to Operation Irini. Instead, a coalition of EU states must finally be formed which are willing to rescue and receive people in distress at sea.

Italy finds itself divided at the beginning of the so-called "Phase Two" of its lockdown.

While countries in the EU are implementing the first relaxing measures after the lockdown, we look back at when all this started. We count the days that separate us not only from the beginning, now, but especially from its end.

The conservatives in the German parliament reject any increase in Germany's greenhouse gas reduction targets without also reopening sensitive talks about burden-sharing at EU level, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Saturday (9 May).