Euobserver.com

EU anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures lead to an 80 percent decrease in unfair imports, leaving other foreign supplies unaffected, according to a report published by the European Commission on Monday. EU commissioner for trade Phil Hogan said "making sure our companies operate in fair market conditions will be even more crucial in the times of post-corona crisis recovery". Trade defence safeguards protected 23,000 more jobs than in 2018.

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Monday said the global coronavirus vaccine pledging event hosted by the EU has reached €7.4bn - almost hitting the target of €7.5bn. The money will be used for vaccines, diagnostics and treatments in the pandemic. Von der Leyen said the event will "will help kickstart unprecedented global cooperation". The US and China were notably absent from the online event.

Belgium's anti-terrorism chief Paul Van Tichelt has warned in an interview in De Standaard that the so-called Islamic State is still a threat. "ISIS is handing out soap in refugee camps, saying that the coronavirus is a punishment of God for unbelievers," he said, adding "they tell refugees that who follows the sharia will not be infected". He also said that Isis is continuing with attacks in Syria and Iraq.

Belgium is setting up call centres to alert people who have come into contact with infected Covid-19 patients. A test phase launched on Monday (4 May) is set to go operational on 11 May. The call centre agents will also be instructed to provide people the results of their tests, provide quarantine instructions if necessary, and retrieve a list of contacts the infected person had met since symptoms started.

Emissions of greenhouse gases from all operators covered by the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS) in 2019 fell by 8.7 percent, compared to 2018 levels. Under ETS, the EU charges for the right to emit carbon dioxide, and companies trade their allowances. Renewable power generation such as wind and solar led to a 15 percent fall in power industry emissions, aviation emissions rose by a modest one percent.

The European Parliament's vice-presidents for communication called on Monday for national capitals to do more to inform the public about collective EU action in fighting Covid-19. MEPs Othmar Karas and Katarina Barley said it is "imperative" that domestic authorities do so in order to combat disinformation and maintain EU unity. The MEPs argued that press conferences by EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen should be broadcast in EU countries.

The EU Commission on Monday approved French state aid worth €7bn, saying the support would soften the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. Airlines have been hit heavily by the lockdown measures, and companies are seeking financial help to stay afloat. The commission said in its statement that the support be a state guarantee on loans and a subordinated shareholder loan to the company by the French state.

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Monday announced the bloc has pledged €1bn for developing a vaccine and treatment for the novel coronavirus as part of a global fundraising event. The commission aims to have global leaders pledge €7.5bn for the vaccine search. Among other leaders, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel promised €500m and €525m from their respective countries.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez is facing opposition from regional premiers to the fourth extension of the state of emergency - giving the government extra powers to fight the coronavirus. The state of emergency, imposed on 14 March, has been approved by lawmakers every two weeks. However, support from the main opposition parties (Popular Party and far-right Vox) is not guaranteed this time, El País reported.

People came out of their homes to drink wine and champagne in the street together, while keeping a safe distance, in some streets in Brussels at 8PM on Sunday to celebrate "the end of the lockdown". They had previously clapped or rang bells from their windows at 8PM each night in support of medical staff. Belgium is to start phasing out its lockdown in three waves from this Monday onward.

France said Sunday that it would not quarantine anyone arriving from the EU, the Schengen area, or Britain due to the coronavirus, as it prepares to start easing confinement measures after two months of lockdown, Reuters reports. Until at least 24 July, anyone entering France arriving from outside the European Union, the Schengen zone, or Britain would have to remain in isolation for two weeks.

Israel's Mossad intelligence agency convinced Germany, last week, to declare Lebanese political party Hezbollah a terrorist entity by showing the group was stockpiling explosives in southern Germany, Israel's Channel 12 broadcaster reported. "The move is a result of many months of work with all the parties in Germany," an Israeli official said, adding Mossad gave Germany "evidence of direct and proven legal involvement, which ties the organisation to terrorist activity".

There are currently 3,503,533 confirmed cases of the virus, and 247,306 people have lost their lives in the pandemic so far, according to John's Hopkins University data. Reuters reports that the rate of fatalities and new cases has slowed from peaks reached last month. Europe and North America count for most cases, but numbers are still on the rise in Russia, Africa and Latin America.

China is a "systemic rival" to Europe and the EU should not be "naive" about its intentions, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said in French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. "We Europeans support effective multilateralism with the United Nations at the centre. China, on the other hand, has a selective multilateralism that wants, and is based on, a different understanding of the international order," Borrell said in the interview.

Worldwide efforts will be made to find €7.5bn for a possible cure for Covid-19. The commission will also flesh out its estimates of the coming recession.

The European Commission launches on Monday an initiative to raise €7.5bn to speed up the development of vaccines, treatment and testing capacity, ensuring that is equally "available to everyone and at affordable prices" and avoiding nationalisms.

Budapest and Bucharest are engaged in a war of words over the heavily-Hungarian region of Szeklerland, part of Romania's Transylvania. But is a row over autonomy just cover to overshadow the corona virus crisis?

The reports we have received at the European Roma Rights Centre of extreme hardship, police violence, ethnic profiling and hate speech against Roma since the pandemic hit Europe, highlight the need for extra vigilance when governments adopt emergency powers.

One of most catastrophic fallouts of this crisis is that it is paving the way for a crackdown on press freedoms across the world.

China did try to pressure the EU into diluting a report on disinformation, the EU's top diplomat has admitted. But this was just normal diplomacy, he said.