European Union

Reports surfaced over the weekend that US President Donald Trump had shown interest in buying CureVac, a private company based in the southwestern town of Tübingen that is currently working on creating a coronavirus vaccine. According to the weekly newspaper,...

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced before the Bundestag yesterday (15 March) that Germany would be closing its borders as of 8 am today (16 March) with France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, and Austria to impede the spread...

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced yesterday (15 March) that the executive adopted an export authorisation scheme for protective equipment in an effort to protect European health workers and contain escalating coronavirus outbreak. “Essential medical goods can only...

Slovenia will shut down its air traffic from Tuesday in an attempt to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, a government spokesman told reporters on Sunday (15 March).

After the EU committed to climate neutrality by mid-century, the European Commission is now busy performing a detailed cost-benefit analysis of raising the bloc’s climate target for 2030. Brook Riley peaks into the EU's modelling engine room to decipher the assumptions behind the figures.

Carmakers are taking measures to weather the impact of the coronavirus, with Volkswagen and Ford both announcing temporary suspension of production at factories in Europe amid reported cases of coronavirus among their workforce.

Although the oil price war was triggered by the Russia-Saudi fall-out, US shale will be the first casualty, writes Robin Mills. In the process, the US will learn that producing a lot of oil at high prices is not the “energy dominance” it has made a centrepiece of foreign policy, he argues.

In Belgium, the coronavirus pandemic has lead to a small political breakthrough on Sunday (15 March), as the main political parties agreed to grant the current caretaker government under Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes special powers for the next six months...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Sunday (15 March) that EU countries imposing border checks were threatening supply chains and increasing the risks of shortages. The warning from Brussels came as Germany became the latest EU country...

European Union finance ministers plan to agree on Monday (16 March) on a coordinated economic response to the coronavirus pandemic, with the European Commission forecasting the effects of the virus could push the EU into a recession. The action would...

Direct and indirect electrification of transport, buildings and industry could deliver a 60% reduction in carbon emissions across Europe by 2050 – but that will require a massive upsurge in clean power output, according to BloombergNEF, a research company.

Spain has declared an absolute quarantine, allowing only trips to buy food, medicines or essential products, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced in a television appearance on Sunday (15 March) as the number of coronavirus cases exceeded 7,700, with 288 deaths.

Italy on Sunday (15 March) reported a one-day record death toll and leaders warned of a bed and artificial respirator shortage in the European epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic.

Belgian political leaders agreed Sunday to form an emergency government to fight the coronavirus. The caretaker government of prime minister Sophie Wilmès (MR/liberal) would receive extraordinary powers to take all measures needed for six months. Several opposition parties - the centre-left PS and Sp.a, the right-wing NVA, and two Green parties, Cdh and Défi - would support the minority government. On Monday, Wilmès will be appointed "formateur" by the king.

Turkey is winding down its two-week operation to aid the movement of tens of thousands of people toward Europe, following a tough on-the-ground response from Greek border guards and a tepid diplomatic reaction from European politicians, the New York Times writes. Migrants at the Greek-Turkish land border began to be transported back to Istanbul by bus this week, eyewitnesses said.

The US administration attempted to persuade a German firm developing a possible vaccine for coronavirus to move its research work to the United States, German officials said, raising fears in Berlin that Washington was trying to ensure that any inoculation would be available first, and perhaps exclusively, in the United States, the New York Times writes. The US reportedly offered roughly $1bn (€0.9bn) for exclusive access to the vaccine.

The democratic engine of the EU - the European Parliament - has closed due to the virus, but one MEP explains how deputies continue to try to work.

Exports of virus-related medical equipment outside the EU will be subject to a new "authorisation" scheme to keep essential supplies in Europe, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday. "By producing more, keeping it in the European Union and sharing with each other we can protect our health workers and patients and contain the spread of the virus," she said in a short video published on social media.

The EU should impose asset fezzes and visa bans on Russian national Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his Wagner "mercenary" firm, five US senators have said in a letter to the EU ambassador to Washington Stavros Lambrinidis. Wagner was active in conflicts in the Central African Republic, Libya, Madagascar, Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela, the senators said. But its status as a private firm gave Russia "deniability" on "spreading malign influence" overseas.

Seven EU states have sealed their borders to non-nationals over the pandemic, despite experts saying it will do more harm than good.