Euobserver.com

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Thursday that some 450 active WHO email addresses and passwords were leaked online, together with thousands belonging to others working on the coronavirus response. The leaked credentials impact on an old system, used by the current and retired staff as well as partners. The number of cyber-attacks increased five times in comparison to the same period last year.

The president of the European Commission is hiring a PR-agency owned by the former editor in chief of the German newspaper Bild Zeitung for private advice, the Aargauer Zeitung writes. According to the newspaper, the PR-agency called "Story Machine" is highly controversial in Germany as it promoted a study on corona pleading to ease restrictions immediately, while lobby watchdogs called this kind of contract non-transparent.

The coronavirus pandemic appears to have eased in most EU states, the European centre for Disease and Prevention and Control, an EU agent has said. "In 20 EU/EEA countries, it appears that the initial wave of transmission has passed its peak, with a decline in the number of newly reported cases," it said Thursday. Some 105,064 people had died in the EU so far and 988,241 were infected.

EU leaders agreed on the need for a fund to support the recovery of Europe's economy from the coronavirus pandemic, but disagreed on details. The commission will come with proposals tied to the new long-term EU budget.

In tackling the pandemic, we must avoid Europe sleepwalking into a permanent expanded surveillance state.

While much of the transport sector is pushing for unconditional state aid and to postpone climate policy action, experts believe that this crisis could help to transform the EU's transportation system, making it more resilient, sustainable and flexible.

The EU is reorienting funds to boost the Libyan coast guard - amid fears that the escalating violence in the north African country plus the coronavirus will force a large exodus of people to take boats towards Europe.

Portugal will provide vouchers for foreign tourists who were forced to cancel holiday plans in the country from March 13 to September 30, allowing them to reschedule their trips until the end of 2021, Reuters reported. "We are being absolute pioneers in the European context. Our priority is to safeguard consumer rights and the interests of economic operators," said the secretary of state Rita Marques in a Thursday online conference.

Universities in the EU ought to appoint spy-catchers to stop China and others stealing secrets, the European Commission has suggested.

While women are in the frontline on fighting the pandemic, they are also exposed more to the economic crisis that will follow. The pay gap could also grow. More security for flexible jobs, and investment in care work, could help.

Several Asian countries have seen the coronavirus surge back after easing restrictions - despite their initial success in restraining the outbreak. As a result, EU member states maybe starting to loosen restrictions without having a 'concrete' example to learn from.

EU leaders hold a videoconference Thursday to bridge divisions over financing Europe's recovery from the corona crisis, in talks interlinked with the bloc's long-term budget.

Now (as before) there are lessons to learn about how a number of Eastern countries are tackling this coronavirus crisis. We have to drop our bipolar world view of ​​the 'free West' against the 'authoritarian East'.

A few weeks ago, the European Union underwent a fundamental change: it ceased being a bloc of exclusively democratic states. Even worse - leaders across Europe barely flinched.

Malta voiced concern that intensified fighting in Libya could push thousands more refugees to Europe at Wednesday's EU foreign affairs videoconference, EU foreign relations chief Josep Borrell said. It also proposed a special €100m fund to help Libya stop them coming, despite deplorable conditions there. Malta said its health system was "overwhelmed" by coronavirus and could not take migrant patients. Borrell called for a "humanitarian truce" between Libya's warring parties.

The world is facing widespread famine "of biblical proportions" because of the coronavirus pandemic, the chief of the UN's food relief agency has warned, with a short time to act before hundreds of millions starve, the Guardian reports. More than 30 countries in the developing world could experience widespread famine, and in 10 of those countries there are already more than one million people on the brink of starvation.

Now isn't the time for "blame games", but "a full understanding of the epidemiology of coronavirus will be essential" in future, EU foreign relations chief Josep Borrell said Wednesday, reacting to Australian calls for an inquiry into alleged Chinese cover-ups. "The priority now has to be saving lives," Borrell said. EU states, led by France, were to launch humanitarian "air bridges" to help African states get medical supplies, he added.

Plans, due in mid-May, for how to resume air travel in Europe will include social-distancing rules, guidelines on masks, and plane disinfections, EU transport commissioner Adina Valean said Wednesday on social media. "I cannot say right now when this [resumption of air travel] is going to start happening because we have to listen to the advice of the health specialists," she said. The air-travel industry also fears post-pandemic price wars.

Airlines in Europe have applied for €12.8bn government support since the start of the coronavirus pandemic with no binding environmental conditions attached, according to an analysis of the sector's bailout pleas by the Guardian. The analysis published on Wednesday reveals that five of the airlines seeking or receiving state aid as a result of the coronavirus pandemic have earned more than €1bn in net profits in the past five years.

The €1.1 trillion of bonds the European Central Bank (ECB) is to buy from pandemic-distressed EU states this year must be purchased at market prices, not directly from governments at fixed ones, ECB chief Christine Lagarde has said in a letter to an MEP, Reuters reported Wednesday. Direct buying would go against "disciplined budgetary policy," she said. ECB "helicopter" payments for EU households faced too many "legal complexities," she added.