Euobserver.com

I found a loophole to meet the woman I love after three months apart, but is love an "essential" reason for travel?

The EU Commission asked member states to make vouchers for cancelled trips more attractive, rather than scrapping the legally-binding cash refund option.

The Conference on the Future of Europe will help to find out why a large part of the Europeans does not endorse the Union.

German chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed on Wednesday that she was targeted by hackers thought to be Russian military intelligence (GRU). Germany's Der Spiegel magazine reported that GRU had obtained emails from her constituency office in a hacking attack in 2015. "Honestly, it hurts me," Merkel said, and described the attack as "outrageous". Merkel added that she would continue to "strive for good relations with Russia".

The EU Fundamental Rights Agency's annual report says the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people has not improved overall in the past seven years. The agency surveyed some 140,000 people, the largest of its kind when it comes to the LGBTI community. "Too many LGBTI people continue to live in the shadows, afraid of being ridiculed, discriminated or even attacked," said FRA director Michael O'Flahert.

Chinese authorities are preparing to test 11 million people in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, after a small outbreak this week, the Guardian writes. Fearful of another outbreak and a return to the draconian lockdowns, the authorities are drawing up plans for "10 days of battle", directing each district of Wuhan to develop and submit plans to test all their citizens.

A French court has dropped all charges against an olive farmer, Cedric Herrou, who helped migrants enter the country illegally after the constitutional council said Herrou's actions were not a crime under the "principle of fraternity". He helped about 200 people cross from Italy into southern France, and set up camp for them in his home. Herrou was given a four-month suspended sentence in August 2017.

The Dutch Foundation Human Rights for Eritreans has initiated a court case against the European Union for financing highway projects in an Eritrea where forced labour is rampant. The lawsuit comes amid a European Parliament debate on the funding.

EU diplomats will "never again" allow Chinese censorship of EU statements, foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has said, after a dispute, last week, in which the EU ambassador to Beijing took out a sensitive line on the origin of coronavirus from an EU statement due to Chinese pressure. "Something like this will not happen again, and it was not the right decision to take," Borrell said on Tuesday.

Czech TV has named Russian diplomat Andrei Konchakov, the head of the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Prague, a spy who smuggled the poison ricin into the country intending to poison three Czech local politicians highly critical of Russia. Both Konchakov and the Russian embassy denied it. Russia was the victim of "false and unfounded" allegations, it said. He had brought sweets and disinfectant, not ricin, Konchakov said.

EU told a black-and-white tale of 20 sinful states who posed a money-laundering threat to Europe's law-abiding single market, but the real story is more complex.

The European Commission is set to announce a three-phase approach on Wednesday to gradually reopen internal borders. However, concerns over how the principle of free movement in the EU will be affected is growing - as countries announce different approaches.

Europe today is the continent of the solid 15-20 percent party which means loads of energy gets absorbed just by keeping coalitions together and majorities stable.

To succeed Timmermans needs to stand up to governments and vested interests rushing to reboot economies crashed by the coronavirus. That means ensuring the trillions of euros the EU and its member states spend transform rather than entrench polluting industries.

Measures deemed necessary at the start of the epidemic in Europe to stop cross-border contagion are now becoming disproportionate in light of the lighter national internal measures in place, writes Manfred Weber, chairman of the European People's Party.

Brussels Airlines, part of Germany's Lufthansa, said Tuesday it would reduce its fleet by 30 percent and its workforce by a quarter to guarantee its survival during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. The company, which has 4,200 staff, is also asking for support from Lufthansa and the Belgian government, which is considering a possible state aid of €290m if Brussels Airlines continues to operate out of Brussels Airport.

The Italian government has announced, after pressure from regional leaders, that local authorities are allowed to establish their own reopening plan from 18 May on, the Guardian writes. On that day bars, restaurants, hairdressing and beauty salons will reopen across Italy as well as retailers, museums and libraries. Safety measures will need to be implemented, with restaurants required to set distances of four metres between diners.

EU Parliament president David Sassoli said Hungary should send prime minister Viktor Orban to debate, in response to an earlier request by the country's justice minister Judit Varga to participate in Thursday's debate on Budapest's controversial extraordinary measures. In a letter to Orban, Sassoli said "according to the established practice [...] the appropriate level of participation" is that of prime ministers, but added remote participation was not possible.

The European Union renewed its call for a truce in Libya, echoing that made by the United Nations previously. "The European Union demands that all parties act responsibly and immediately cease the fighting all over Libya, which is first and foremost affecting civilians, including migrants, and is placing them at even greater risk," the EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday in a statement.

The Confederation of European Trade Unions (ETUC) call on the EU commission to rethink its proposal not to place Covid-19 in the highest risk group of biological agents, possibly resulting in weaker protection workers' health, the organisation said in a statement. Commission and member states experts will decide on Thursday on the category. ETUC deputy general secretary Per Hilmersson said it is "hard to understand" the commission's proposal.