European Union

According to a report, US President Donald Trump is offering German scientists a lot of money if they come to the US. He also wants a coronavirus vaccine "only for the USA." EURACTIV's media partner Der Tagesspiegel reports.

Islamic fundamentalist group Isis has warned its people to avoid Europe due to coronavirus. "The healthy should not enter the land of the epidemic and the afflicted should not exit from it," al-Naba, the group's news weekly newsletter, said in its last edition, according to US publication Homeland Security Today. Isis is based in the Middle East and Africa. "Cover the mouth when yawning and sneezing," al-Naba also said.

Former Nato secretary general and EU foreign affairs chief, Javier Solana, 77, was hospitalised with coronavirus in his native Spain last Wednesday, Spanish newspaper ABC reported Friday. Solana was doing well and was in hospital for observation only, sources told the Reuters news agency. Solana himself, who now works with several think-tanks, also continued to tweet about macroeconomics and climate change over the weekend in a sign of health.

Spain's King Felipe IV was a beneficiary of an offshore fund called the Lucum Foundation which held €65m in donations by Saudi Arabia to his father, Juan Carlos, British newspaper the Sunday Telegraph reports. The news prompted Felipe IV to renounce his father's inheritance and abolish Juan Carlos' state stipend of some €194,000 a year. Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014 due to corruption scandals, with Felipe IV promising a clean-up.

The coronavirus pandemic will plunge the European Union into recession this year, the EU’s internal market Commissioner Thierry Breton said, estimating the bloc’s economy risked a 2-2.5% hit.

President Aleksandar Vucic met Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Belgrade on Sunday (15 March) to discuss relations between the two countries, as well as coordination in the fight against the novel coronavirus. Read more. The two officials also discussed...

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about US President Trump's interest in a German company producing vaccines for COVID-19 and why he wants just his country to benefit, and so much more.

Croatian PM and ruling party president Andrej Plenković has officially won the inter-party elections that were held, despite the COVID-19 outbreak which is paralysing the rest of Europe. According to the first results, Plenković and his moderate team „Courageous for...

In the middle of the coronavirus crisis, the Czech government included in its Monday agenda a law on beneficial owners’ evidence, a proposal which would help  Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to solve his alleged conflict of interests. Babiš says...

After only 13 days, the leaders of future government coalition parties reached a deal on Friday (13 March). The parties of Ordinary People’s (OĽaNO), We Are Family (Sme rodina), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) and For People (Za ľudí) had all...

In Sofia, as of Sunday (15 March), the number of people tested positive with coronavirus is 51, with two deaths so far. Following restrictive measures announced on 12 March, restaurants and bars are closed and the only shops open are...

Romania installed a new government in a special Parliament meeting held on Saturday. With many of the ministers, including the Prime Minister, in self-isolation after coming in contact with a senator who tested positive for coronavirus, hearings were held via...

With a record abstention estimated between 53.5% and 56%, the French deserted the polling stations Sunday (15 March) during the first round of municipal elections, held during a coronavirus pandemic.

In Ireland, all pubs and hotel bars in Ireland have been asked to shut their doors to the public until 29 March, as the government looks to stem the spread of COVID-19. The decision comes ahead of St Patrick’s Day, the...

Boris Johnson’s government will from Monday (16 March) give daily televised press conferences to update the public on the fight against coronavirus, Downing Street has said. The move follows a wave of criticism of the government’s perceived passive approach to combating...

Serbia declared a state of emergency Sunday (15 March) to halt the spread of the new coronavirus, shutting down many public spaces, deploying soldiers to guard hospitals and closing the borders to foreigners.

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).