European Union

ODIHR discontinues election activities in North Macedonia and Serbia due to COVID-19.  Election observation activities of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) “are being temporarily limited in some places, as countries around the OSCE region restrict...

The Croatian government has adopted 63 measures to prop up the economy throughout the coronavirus epidemic, while PM Andrej Plenković announced that further measures for the reduction of social contacts will be adopted in the foreseeable future. The main goal...

Former president and leader of the centre-right party For the People, Andrej Kiska, has announced that he will not assume his mandate as an MP, citing cardiac problems as the reason. But what will his future involvement within the party...

Czech media reported that general practitioners (GPs), dentists but also doctors in hospitals and other health care workers face severe lack of protective equipment despite the government’s claims that they have enough materials to deal with the COVID-19 crisis. While...

Military personnel from the Military Emergency Unit (Unidad Militar de Emergencias, UME), the Army and the Marine Corps have deployed 1,820 troops in 28 Spanish cities on Tuesday (17 March) to disinfect facilities and prevent big crowds, as means to...

Telecom operator A1 started voluntarily providing the data of its users to the government, without them knowing. The telecom operator wanted to assist the government in monitoring the effectiveness of its measures which aim at keeping citizens at home. EURACTIV...

As the number of COVID-19 cases reached 8,757 on Tuesday (17 March), the German government rolled out two new plans to respond to the spread of virus, including plans to bring Germans stuck in foreign countries home and measures to...

As part of their remote working programme, the European Commission has had to make a number of changes to how employees are able to carry out their work from distance. There have been concerns that the security of internal networks...

The normally harmonious and unified Nordic community of Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway have responded differently to the COVID-19 health crisis and have started to play the ‘blame game’, which has come as a surprise to observers and politicians alike....

Spain announced a €200 billion package on Tuesday (17 March) to help companies and protect workers and other vulnerable groups affected by the spiralling coronavirus crisis.

Political leaders "underestimated" the magnitude of the danger posed by the coronavirus, the president of the European Commission admitted Wednesday (17 March), as the EU shut its borders.

Greece has said it is placing migrant camps across the country on a two-week shutdown to visitors to ward off the new coronavirus. “Visits (to camps) by individuals and organisations are suspended for at least 14 days,” the migration ministry...

Giuseppe Conte, the Italian Prime Minister, urged EU leaders on Tuesday (17 March) to take extraordinary measures and consider issuing joint debt at EU level in order to help Europe's economy recover from the coronavirus crisis.

The United States and Britain led a multi-billion-dollar global fightback against economic havoc wreaked by the coronavirus as the European Union shut its borders to travellers from outside for 30 days to stem the pandemic's ferocious spread.

EU leaders confirmed the proposed closure of the EU's external and Schengen borders for at least 30 days on Tuesday (17 March) as the bloc continued struggling to come up with a unified response to the coronavirus outbreak.

With more than 16,000 coronavirus infections registered as of Tuesday and 988 deaths, Iran has been hardest hit by the virus after China and Italy, DW reports. According to the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, the country would reach the peak of the epidemic in roughly one week, and the death toll would exceed 12,000. In order to be able to burry these victims, mass graves haven been dug.

Germany has begun the process of bringing home tens of thousands of its nationals stranded abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic, foreign minister Heiko Maas has told Deutsche Welle. "Today alone, 30 to 40 planes will take off for destinations around the world to bring back tourists," Maas said, adding that the operation would "take a few days." In Egypt alone, some 35,000 tourists are stuck. In Morocco, some 5,000.

Russian forces, not the Syrian regime as previously claimed, were responsible for killing 34 Turkish soldiers in Syria earlier this month, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said. "We believe Russia has killed dozens of Turkish military personnel in the course of their military operation," he said Tuesday. "We stand with our Nato ally Turkey and will consider additional measures that support Turkey," Pompeo said.

The British, French, German, and Turkish leaders spent 75 minutes discussing coronavirus, the war in Syria, the Libya conflict, refugees, and Turkish-EU relations, Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Tuesday. The EU and Turkey both wanted "a number of clarifications ... in order to achieve clearer and peaceful relations" on refugees going to Europe, the Elysée also said. But all sides agreed on more humanitarian aid for Syria, it added.

Non-essential travel to Europe will be banned for 30 days in an effort to contain the virus and encourage EU leaders to reopen internal borders.