European Union

The Austrian Red Cross has already published a smartphone app which lets users collect all their contacts with other app-users. Should a user become infected, all his recent contacts are informed. Early on, data protection activists voiced concern that using...

The Romanian government has decided to ban exports of wheat, corn, rice, sunflower and other grains, but also vegetable oil, sugar and various bakery products for as long as the Covid-19 state of emergency is in force. Romania is one...

Malta can no longer guarantee the rescue of migrants or allow their disembarkation during the coronavirus emergency, the Malta government said on Thursday (9 April).

The Eurogroup finally agreed on a €500 billion package to support member states, companies and workers in the coronavirus crisis, after The Netherlands and Italy overcame they differences. Leaders will discuss in the coming days the recovery plan and the possibility of ‘coronabonds’.

It’s sunny and warm in Shenzhen now, and the restaurants and cafes are serving lunch to young professionals and workers in the open air. Abraham Liu, Huawei Vice President for the European Region paints a picture of life in China, as the country gets overs the recent public health crisis.

World powers scrambled on Thursday (9 April) to build a global response to the human tragedy and once-in-a-century economic collapse caused by the coronavirus epidemic, as the worldwide death toll topped 90,000.

10 April marks the tenth anniversary of the Smolensk plane crash that killed 96 people including the Polish president, central bank chief and military commanders. Ambassador Andrzej Sadoś explains how this tragic incident further deepened the divide between Poland and Russia.

The plight of 280 migrants trapped on a boat in Tripoli harbour due to shelling has shown that EU states and other regional powers needed "a comprehensive approach to the situation in the central Mediterranean," the International Organisation for Migration, a UN agency, has said. The Libyan coast guard intercepted the migrants en route to Europe, but port authorities refused to let them disembark due to the intensity of fighting.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, an EU agency, was meant to highlight threats from infectious diseases, but it painted a rosy picture of Covid-19.

The Flemish government has blocked the signature of a letter from 12 member states reaffirming Europe's commitment to the Green Deal - despite the coronavirus.

The EU's next long-term budget could be used to leverage €1.5 trillion in total joint spending, if states temporarily loosened rules on how much EU institutions can borrow on capital markets, EU budget commissioner Johannes Hahn said in the FT on Thursday. "This is real firepower," he said, referring to EU plans to help private firms and state treasuries hit by the crisis, as well fortifying resistance to future pandemics.

The EU should lift export restrictions on anti-virus medical equipment to Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, their foreign ministers said in a letter to EU foreign service chief Josep Borrell, dated Tuesday. Exempting them would "send a strong signal to our citizens that we are all together in this as Europeans," they said. Meanwhile, an EU-Western Balkans summit due in Zagreb in May will now be held in June.

Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, warned on Thursday that he will have to ask to extend the state of emergency two more weeks when the current deadline for the lockdown ends (26 April). "Within 15 days, I will have to do this again, because we will not have ended the pandemic," he said. The opposition threatened to stop supporting further extensions to the lockdown, which was imposed on 14 March.

It is the biggest-ever EU financial envelope, but more will be needed to kickstart Europe's economy.

Cement and steel companies are being warned by investors over their lobbying on planned European Union carbon costs, saying they are effectively asking to be compensated twice over.

Remarks by Mário Centeno following the Eurogroup videoconference of 9 April 2020 on the comprehensive economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 9 April 2020, the Eurogroup in inclusive format endorsed a report on the comprehensive economic policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EU issued a declaration welcoming the release of the first report of the OPCW Investigation and Identification Team, and noted with great concern its conclusions.

The Council approved new rules to help the most deprived EU citizens during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The EU is taking further measures to refocus cohesion policy resources on tackling the effects of the pandemic.