Eurotopics.net

The Italian government has announced that it will not accept 39 billion euros from the EU's coronavirus rescue package. Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Antonio Misiani said his country would only use the aid for short-time work schemes and the loans from the European Investment Bank. What is behind this rejection?

In his fourth televised address on the corona crisis, French President Macron on Monday night admitted mistakes in the efforts to fight the pandemic. In recent weeks the government has been heavily criticised for poor crisis management, failing to provide sufficient protective equipment, delays and contradictions. Journalists take different views of the speech.

Churchgoers in Romania were to be able to pick up blessed bread outside churches for Orthodox Easter, despite the coronavirus. Now Interior Minister Vela has backpedalled in the wake of harsh criticism. Instead the bread and "holy fire" are to be brought to people's homes on request. For the press this is the only sensible decision, despite the importance attached to Easter in Romania.

Austria has taken the initiative and began easing its lockdown measures for containing the coronavirus on Tuesday. Plans for an exit strategy from the restrictions are also being made in other European countries. Journalists discuss when such steps can be taken and what dilemmas societies face.

The International Monetary Fund has predicted that the coronavirus pandemic will spark the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. GDPs are set to shrink by 7.5 percent in the Eurozone and around three percent globally. Europe's press voices concern and discusses the consequences.