European Union

World leaders on Thursday (29 May) called for resilience and cooperation after the pandemic recedes, during a UN videoconference in which the United States, China and Russia did not participate.

Germany is seeking to use new targeted EU sanctions against cyber-attackers to impose visa bans and asset freezes on the head of Russian military intelligence and one of his alleged operatives in Germany over Russian hacking of the Bundestag in 2015, the German foreign ministry has said. The Russian military intelligence service, the GRU, was "strongly suspected of being responsible for the hacking attack," a German spokesman said Thursday.

The European Commission has proposed a €9.4bn stand-alone programme dedicated to health known as EU4Health. The proposal is touted as a first step towards a possible Treaty change when it comes to health.

It took Belgium years to decide if a top colonel was spying for Russia - potentially exposing Nato to "grave damage".

The European Commission's recovery package increases five-fold the Just Transition Fund, which aims to support the transition of fossil fuel-dependent regions. But commission vice-president Frans Timmermans warned the allocation of funds could be anchored to Green Deal commitments.

Internal document shows diplomats questioned whether the secretariat of the Council of the EU was legally allowed to write guidelines on the financing of the six-month rotating EU presidency activities.

While Covid-19 brings China one step closer to technology-perfected authoritarianism through improvised health apps and real-time surveillance, Europe is busy looking inward.

The EU Council on Thursday extended restrictive measures against the Syrian regime. "The EU remains committed to using every tool at its disposal to push for a political solution to the conflict that would benefit all Syrians and put an end to the ongoing repression," said the EU's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell. Sanctions against Syria were introduced in 2011. However, exceptions are foreseen for humanitarian purposes.

Cyprus expects to receive some 600,000 passengers in August, transport minister Yiannis Karousos said Thursday, noting that this estimate includes people flying in on commercial and private planes, Ekathimerini writes. "There is a gradual lifting of measures," Karousos said, noting that "we are kicking off on June 9, and by June 20 passengers from a number of countries won't need to present a certificate [for coronavirus]."

A report on Thursday by the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) urges EU governments to respect fundamental rights when using contact-tracing apps to curb the spread of the coronavirus. It also calls for open-source solutions to enhance transparency and confidence in the tools. "Respect for fundamental rights forms part of our public health strategies. This includes maintaining privacy and data protection legal safeguards," said FRA director Michael O'Flaherty.

The number of Americans who lost their jobs in the past 10 weeks soared to more than 40 million, with unemployment claims continuing to rise, the Guardian writes. Earlier this month, department of labor reported that more than 20 million Americans lost their jobs in April, bringing the unemployment rate to 14.7 percent, up from 4.4 percent in March - the highest numbers since the Great Depression.

The coronavirus outbreak is causing major disruptions for those who are outside mainstream educational programs across Europe. While many have managed to turn to distance learning, those not in education, employment or training (NEETs) are even more excluded from support schemes.

On Thursday (28 May), German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) testified before the investigative committee tasking with deciding on the responsibility for the government's 'toll debacle,' which could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of euros.

The 2021 budget priorities should be to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak and support the recovery, building on the Green Deal and digital transformation.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

On Thursday, Budgets Committee Members approved €279 million in EU aid following extreme weather events in Austria, Italy, Portugal and Spain in 2019.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

MEPs gave overall positive feedback on the Commission’s transport and tourism package; however, many insist on more concrete actions and financial support ahead of the summer holidays.
Committee on Transport and Tourism

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Welcome to EURACTIV’s AgriFood Brief, your weekly update on all things Agriculture & Food in the EU. You can subscribe here if you haven’t done so yet. Commission hikes CAP’s second pillar spending to deliver Green Deal The European Commission...

Following the row between the ECJ and Germany's Constitutional Court, Europe need to develop mechanisms to avoid a repeat of such conflicting judgements between top courts, argues Patrick Breyer.

The recovery plan presented by the President of the European Commission yesterday (Wednesday 27 May) is not only spectacular because of its size. In fact, it is the new reality behind these figures that makes it truly revolutionary.

Through the new REACT-EU emergency instrument, cohesion policy will be one of the key elements in the European Commission's proposal for a recovery package, which takes into account that the impact of the COVID-19 crisis has been uneven across the EU.