European Union

The European Commission has increased five-fold its proposed EU fund to wean carbon-intensive regions off fossil fuels, with fresh cash from a new recovery fund to help Europe's ailing economies rebound after the new coronavirus pandemic.

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Wednesday (27 May) that there are currently no official assessments indicating whether Montenegro is safe for the people coming from Serbia, but that Belgrade will make such an evaluation. “Security assessments are being...

The Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate has informed Montenegro Airlines that its right to land on Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport had been suspended, according to Montenegrin national flag carrier Montenegro Airlines’s announcement, broadcast by the RTS public service on Wednesday (27...

Croatian Labour and Pension Minister Josip Aladrović (HDZ, EPP) announced that the government has finally reached an agreement with public sector unions on the annexe to the basic collective agreement and on holiday allowances. The government did not want to...

The government gave up its plans to transform a 12-floor ruin built during the last years of communism and abandoned ever since, into a children’s hospital in Sofia. The capital is the only European city without a children’s hospital.  To...

Portuguese flag carrier TAP said on Wednesday (27 May) that it would adjust the route recovery plan it had announced on Monday (25 May), after the company was criticised by several national authorities, including the government. The airline said it “is...

While current travel restrictions are set to be lifted as of 3 June, the question of whether the borders of the most affected regions, such as Lombardy, Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna, should remain closed remains under discussion. You can also read...

From 20 June, Cyprus is set to welcome tourists and travellers from 19 countries, which will not have to go into quarantine upon arrival. One of the exceptions is Belgium. According to a statement by the Cypriot ministry of transport,...

South Korea has reported its biggest daily increase in coronavirus cases in 53 days, triggering warnings it may have to revert to stricter social distancing measures after appearing to have brought the outbreak under control, The Guardian reports. There were 79 new infections on Thursday, with 67 of them from the Seoul metropolitan area. The new spike in infections has underlined the risks that come with relaxing social distancing rules.

Shares in European banks soared by 4 percent after the EU unveiled its multi-billion pandemic bailout plan on Wednesday, amid broader market gains. Shares in some travel firms, such as Tui, also rebounded, as EU states slowly reopened to tourism. But the value of the British pound fell by 1% against the euro, as EU and UK negotiators appeared no closer to serious progress on future trade talks.

Antisemitic crimes in Germany rose by 13 percent to 2,032 last year, with 93 percent of them committed by far-right extremists, the country's interior minister, Horst Seehofer, said on Wednesday. "We must do everything humanly possible to ensure the protection of our people," he said. "Antisemitism has become commonplace for Jews in Germany. Especially on the internet," Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, added.

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has defended his caution on phasing out lockdown measures, as Ireland lags behind Europe in plans to reopen restaurants (late June), hotels (July), and bars (August). It would be "premature" to move faster without "proper data", he told MPs Wednesday, while urging Irish people to "hold firm". Shirtless photos of Varadkar himself flouting lockdown measures at a picnic in the park went viral last weekend.

Suspected human smugglers face up to 15 years in prison after Belgium and France announced 26 arrests Wednesday in a case linked to the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people in a lorry in the UK last year. There were 16 raids in Brussels, arresting 11 Vietnamese and two Moroccan nationals. The joint operation by Belgian, British, French, and Irish police was coordinated by EU judicial agency Eurojust in The Hague.

Russian gas tanker, the Christophe de Margerie, was, on 27 May, approaching the Russian island of Wrangel in the Arctic Ocean en route to the Chinese port of Jingtang, the Barents Observer news website has reported. The trip is the earliest-ever on the northern route without using an ice-breaker ship, although one is accompanying the tanker, amid record-high temperatures in the Arctic region in recent years due to climate change.

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed borrowing €7.7bn on the financial markets to increase spending on vaccines, drugs and healthcare over the next four years, reports Reuters. Although it still needs approval, the plan aims to reduce Europe's reliance on imports when it comes to medical products and pharmaceuticals.

China's effort to undo Hong Kong autonomy despite a 1997 treaty to preserve the former UK colony's freedoms "affects not only our direct interests in Hong Kong, but also the maintenance of the rules-based international order where legal and political commitments are to be respected," EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said in a letter to EU states on 26 May, Bloomberg reports. EU states needed "robust messaging", he added.

With an eye-watering over a trillion euro revised budget and a €750bn recovery package, the EU Commission hopes to restart Europe's economy. Here are some of the key aspects of the proposals.

'The current standard for vaccines is to be kept at two to eight degrees and that is really tough in many developing countries when it can be up to 50 degrees outside,' warn experts on the challenges facing low-income countries.

Hungary's government deserves an apology for the way its use of emergency powers under the coronavirus pandemic have been portrayed, writes justice minister Judit Varga.

The European Commission's €1.85 trillion recovery plan from the coronavirus crisis did not convince environmental NGOs, such as Greenpeace, which believes that the proposal fails to offer a truly 'green recovery' and alternatives to the existing economic model.