European Union

Ministers of foreign affairs will follow-up on the last ministerial video conference of 23 March 2020, discussing international aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on the alignment of certain countries concerning restrictive measures against Zimbabwe

Thousands of foreign prostitutes working in Germany have been made homeless after brothels closed due to the coronavirus outbreak and borders snapped shut, making it difficult for them to return home.

Germany's economy has gone into artificial hibernation to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Initial forecasts suggest this will be expensive but opinions about the extent vary widely. In an interview with EURACTIV Germany, the head of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, explains the limitations of economic forecasts.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a rapid transformation of the workplace at a time when digitalisation and the Green Deal were beginning to restructure entire industries. In an interview with EURACTIV, trade unionist Karin Erhard describes how workers should go forward in these uncertain times and how a strong system of codetermination can help chart the way.

The political and economic measures taken to revive our economy following the Corona crisis need to ensure long-term resilience of the system. Strengthening local communities will be the key to achieving this objective, says Dirk Vansintjan.

Insurers and reinsurers in the EU should temporarily suspend dividends and share buybacks, and consider postponing bonuses as well to ensure continuity in services during the coronavirus pandemic, the bloc's insurance regulator said on Thursday (2 April).

Serbia will bring in Russian doctors and experts to help it fight the coronavirus outbreak and undertake a major disinfection effort, President Aleksandar Vučić said on Thursday (2 April).

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about Czech PM Andrej Babiš completely dismissing the CJEU's decision on migration relocation, all Italian students being given a pass because of coronavirus, and so much more.

China has so far helped Serbia the most in its battle against the coronavirus pandemic and Russia is preparing to deliver aid, said Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic on Thursday (2 April).  “This is a fact at this time and...

Written by Martina Prpic,

Graphics: Giulio Sabbati

© fizkes / Adobe Stock

According to official estimates, the COVID-19 crisis has left more than 200 000 EU citizens stranded outside the borders of the EU. EU Member States have been making great efforts to retrieve them, often with the help of the EU. The priority has been to return EU citizens by using commercial flights, but as the conditions continue to worsen, other resources have had to be utilised.

EU Member States can activate the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to facilitate the repatriation of their and other EU citizens, if the Emergency Crisis Response Centre assesses that there is no better way. So far, at least 15 countries are reported to have requested the help of the Civil Protection Mechanism, using it to organise flights co-funded with EU funds, and so far repatriating 4 382 EU citizens (and 550 others), first from China, and then from a wide range of countries, including Cape Verde, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Georgia, Japan, Morocco, the Philippines, Tunisia, the USA and Vietnam. More flights are scheduled to bring people back from other locations.

The EU Civil Protection Mechanism has been used more than 300 times to respond to disasters since its establishment in 2001. All the EU Member States, together with Iceland, Montenegro, Norway, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey, participate in the Mechanism, but it can also be activated by any country in the world and by certain international organisations. Once the Mechanism is activated, a number of steps follow. The Emergency Crisis Response Centre, as part of the Mechanism, decides on the best response and coordinates it. The EU funds up to 75 % of the costs of the deployment of resources. The 2019 upgrade of the Mechanism boosted the joint capacity for responding to disasters, including medical emergencies. It created rescEU, a reserve of capacities, which has now been augmented to include a stockpile of medical equipment for the COVID-19 response, 90 % of which is funded by the EU. On 27 March 2020, the Commission proposed to further boost the budget for repatriation and for the rescEU stockpile.

Read the complete briefing on ‘Repatriation of EU citizens during the COVID-19 crisis: The role of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

EU citizens repatriated under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, to 30 March 2020

The government has adopted the second round of economic measures designed to ease the burden that the private sector is experiencing amid the coronavirus pandemic. Croatian PM Andrej Plenković announced that his cabinet has decided to postpone the procurement of...

Pharmaceutical firms have stepped up production of medical supplies to prevent pandemic-linked shortages, the EU's single market commissioner, Thierry Breton, has said. "They are doubling production and I think we're going to be able to address the situation," he told French radio Thursday. The Dutch, the same day, offered to put €1bn into a joint virus fund to purchase medicines as an alternative to other ideas of issuing eurozone "corona-bonds".

Insurance firms should refrain from paying dividends to shareholders and big bonuses to executives to make sure they had enough capital to pay out pandemic-linked claims, the EU agency that governs the sector, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority in Frankfurt, has said. Insurers should "ensure a robust level of own funds to be able to protect policyholders and absorb potential losses," the EU agency said on Thursday.

The European Parliament's (EP) 'Helmut Kohl' building could be turned into a makeshift hospital and its fleet of cars and drivers could ferry supplies if need be, the parliament's spokesman, Jaume Duch, has told the Belga news agency. "The building could be used as a hospital or temporary residence for people who needed care. Drivers could help carry food or medicines," he said, following talks with Belgian authorities.

The new support mechanism for the temporary storage of fishery and aquaculture products for human consumption will foster greater market stability and reduce the risk of having such products wasted or redirected to non-human food purposes, Fisheries Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius told EURACTIV.com

The government’s promised to conduct 100,000 coronavirus tests a day in England by the end of April, has come under fire over the lack of clarity and detail about how it will be reached. The new target includes swab tests,...

Finland is about to decide the successor to its current Hornet fighter plane fleet in 2021 but an expected recession and budget cuts in many sectors are casting doubt over the purchase. The rethink comes as no surprise since the...