European Union

The "full firepower" of the European Union will be needed to overcome the historic shock of the coronavirus crisis, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told German media Sunday (19 April), repeating calls to pool European debt.

European Council President Charles Michel has voiced regret that Europe’s way of working, also evident during the coronavirus crisis, is ‘too slow’ and called for more solidarity with countries that have been hard-hit by the pandemic, like Italy and Spain.

Poland saw its biggest spike in coronavirus cases on Sunday (19 April) with 545 new infections recorded, according to health ministry data, a day before the country plans to ease some of its pandemic-related restrictions.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen believes the “real Europe is standing up” to the coronavirus crisis now. In a written interview with EURACTIV's media partner Efe, she spoke about a broad range of issues, from the challenges facing the Eurogroup earlier this month to the expectations for the summit of European leaders this week.

European Commission vice-president Věra Jourová on Sunday (19 April) chided the EU for what she said was its "morbid dependency" on China and India for medical supplies, a situation highlighted by the coronavirus crisis.

The European Parliament's Agriculture Committee wrote a letter to the Commission on Friday (17 April), calling on the EU executive to intervene on the market so that farmers avoid further losses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. However, as money is scarce, the Commission is hesitating. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Dozens of cellphone towers and equipment boxes have been set aflame in Britain, apparently by people who believed 5G technology was helping to spread the coronavirus. In the Netherlands, sixteen 5G towers have been set on fire in the last two weeks. Saturday, the first cellphone tower in Belgium was burned in Pelt, near the Dutch border, even though it appeared not have 5G technology on it, De Standaard reports.

Extending the UK's Brexit transition period beyond 31 December could see the UK forced to pay for EU coronavirus bailouts, a Downing Street source has told Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper. "The EU will be increasing their budget, and bringing in all kinds of packages to deal with the consequences of the Covid-19 crisis," the source said. "Paying into this new budget ... is clearly not in the national interest".

Europe will need another €500bn to cushion the economic blow of the pandemic on top of €500bn agreed by EU leaders on 9 April, Klaus Regling, the head of the European Stability Mechanism, an EU anti-crisis fund, has said. "For the second phase [of post-pandemic bailouts] we need at least another €500bn from the European institutions, but it could be more," he told Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Sunday.

Russian lawmakers from both houses of parliament have passed legislation Friday allowing dual Russian citizenship for foreigners, less than two weeks after introducing it, The Moscow Times reports. Their authors expect up to 10 million people, primarily from Russian-speaking populations in the former Soviet republics, to obtain Russian passports as the country tries to fix its demographic crisis.

The pandemic slowdown could cost 59m jobs in the EU, wiping out 25% of all employment, especially in small businesses and among younger workers, US consultancy firm McKinsey said in a report Monday. "Europe must avoid the significant rise in unemployment witnessed during the 2008-9 financial crisis,", when unemployment surged by 27%, the firm said, calling for "swift and forceful action" by European governments.

Unemployment in Europe could nearly double in the coming months, with up to 59 million jobs at risk from permanent cutbacks as well as reductions in pay and hours because of the coronavirus pandemic, estimates from consultancy McKinsey said.

Interior ministers from France, Germany, Italy, and Spain sent a joint-letter to the European Commission outlining ideas ahead of the upcoming overhaul of the EU-wide asylum system.

Small shops, bicycle stores, car dealerships, and book stores in Germany reopen on Monday, but with the public advised to wear masks. The Czech Republic, Norway, and Poland are also partly relaxing lockdowns from today. But Spain will keep restrictions for now. "These results are still not enough and still fragile ... it is not possible for us to lift the confinement," Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez said on Saturday.

Italy said on Sunday (19 April) that deaths from the coronavirus pandemic rose by 433, the lowest daily tally in a week, and the number of new cases slowed to 3,047 from a previous 3,491.

Numbers appear precise, but can also be unintentionally misleading when it comes to the pandemic, as experts warned that worldwide data is difficult to compare.

As president of the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna and of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, I have witnessed firsthand the efforts and sacrifices of our doctors, nurses, police officers, waste collectors, civil servants, volunteers and countless others.

EU leaders will again try to hammer out a compromise on how to fund an economic recovery after the deepest crisis since the Second World War - but divisions are still running deep. MEPs meanwhile will quiz various commissioners, online.

For IPA Europe to create a favourable environment for probiotics, with clear information on the label, will benefit EU citizens and contribute to cost savings at a societal level.

The new government of Slovenia's conservative Prime Minister Janez Janša has so far kept the coronavirus under control -- but critics fear he will exploit the crisis to bring to heel the media he brands "presstitution".