European Union

The European Commission should make its future pandemic recovery plan conditional on commitments to the green transition, says Bendt Bendtsen, a former MEP who is now leading a Danish interest group lobbying for energy efficiency.

The strain imposed on Europe's economy as a result of the coronavirus outbreak highlights the importance of agreeing on a global framework for digital taxation, the EU's Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni has said.

The Faroe Islands has managed to test nearly 10% of its population for coronavirus and no one has died from the disease so far. Its virus strategy was undoubtedly helped by its remote location but the main reason for the rapid response is a surprising one: the humble salmon.

Airlines are putting pressure on the UN to make it easier for them to curb emissions in the 2020s, as the industry reels from the collapse of air travel because of the coronavirus. EURACTIV's partner Climate Home News reports.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about German minister Maas and Scholz calling for greater solidarity, Romania extending its state of emergency and so much more.

Members of Serbian NGO Women in Black (Zene u crnom) commemorated on Monday the siege of Sarajevo on its 28th anniversary, N1 reported.  “The siege of Sarajevo by Serb armed formations came after Bosnia’s recognition as an independent country, on...

Farmers association COPA-COGECA has backed the further postponement and debut of the Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy, due to mounting pressures faced by farmers over the COVID-19 outbreak, but this stance has been heavily criticised.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is playing the Chinese card as part of his political tactics to extract more from Serbia’s western partners, Atlantic Council research fellow Dimitar Bechev told RFE on Monday. “Vučić is saying what the people in Serbia...

Written by Naja Bentzen,

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The global health crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic – which is currently hitting EU Member States, not least Italy and Spain, particularly hard – raises concern that a combination of disinformation and heavily promoted health diplomacy, echoed by local proxies in Europe, could potentially pave the way for wider influence in other sectors in the wake of the crisis.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initially concealed information about the spread of the virus. Research suggests that they thereby delayed measures to alleviate the spread of the disease. At the same time, the CCP launched far-reaching efforts to silence domestic criticism.

The CCP’s efforts to restore Beijing’s tainted image both at home and abroad include attempts to export the blame for the virus via a wave of conspiracy theories, in a move that seems to be inspired by the Kremlin’s well-known tactics. At the same time, Beijing has launched a highly visible global aid offensive, providing expertise, test kits and other essential medical equipment – not all of it for free, contrary to the CCP’s media offensive – to a number of countries, including in Europe.

EU Coronavirus Response

Both Moscow and Beijing seem to be driving parallel information campaigns, conveying the overall message that democratic state actors are failing and that European citizens cannot trust their health systems, whereas their authoritarian systems can save the world.

Meanwhile, the EU – which has taken significant steps to help citizens both in the EU and beyond – has acknowledged the geopolitical components in what has been dubbed the ‘politics of generosity’, and is preparing to protect Europe against the next stage in these influence operations.

Read the complete briefing on ‘COVID-19 foreign influence campaigns: Europe and the global battle of narratives‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Examples of false narratives trending on social media

Journalism is threatened by a 2008-like crisis, while additional job cuts, cuts in journalism rights, as well as the decline in the value of work are on their way, the Union of Journalists of Croatia (SNH) warned in a statement,...

PM Viktor Orbán announced a new set of economic measures with a focus on job retention and creation, promising an additional set of measure later on. “The goal is to create as many jobs as are destroyed by the virus,”...

Presidential elections due on 10 May are likely to go ahead as the ruling conservative PiS party had hoped. PiS had managed to benefit from a rebellion in the ranks of its small coalition partner Porozumienie on Monday morning –...

Russia is planning to organise events around the world to highlight its National day and “Russian spiritual values”. Of the thirty-three events, almost half are said to take place in Finland, including six exhibitions and “two dialogues and workshops”. “To...

Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès announced a new expert group dubbed Exit Strategie, which is meant to develop a plan on how lockdown measures could be loosened in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the Belgian crisis centre launched a new interpretation of...

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have excluded European Parliament President David Sassoli from talks on the EU response to the coronavirus crisis, El Pais reported. “The main community leaders held a second videoconference on the...

The UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has announced a partnership with a contingency of the UK’s leading video games firms to deliver in-game coronavirus warnings to players.

Bulgaria banned entry to its territory to citizens from around the globe except for 19 EU member states, as it battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus, its health minister said on Monday (6 April).

Iran on Monday (6 April) welcomed the launch of a European barter system to bypass US sanctions as a "good omen" but said it was insufficient in light of the Europeans' commitments.

The pace of new coronavirus deaths in Spain slowed for the fourth day on Monday (6 April), but overwhelmed crematoria in Barcelona and the death of soccer coach Pep Guardiola's mother showed the national agony was far from over.

Hospitals in the European Union are facing shortages of critical drugs to treat COVID-19 patients because of trade restrictions and excessive stockpiling by EU governments, EU and industry officials said on Monday (6 April).