Socialist group leader Iratxe Garcia has added her voice to those calling for next week’s plenary in Strasbourg to be scrapped. She joins other members who fear that having hundreds of MEPs, staff and others converge on the city could pose a serious health risk and lead to the coronavirus spreading far and wide. Garcia, a Spanish…
The 20 km of Brussels has grown and transformed into a ‘Run for Europe’. With the help of the European institutions, the European Parliament’s Sport Group and many partners, this virtual race will allow all Europeans, from their homes, to play sports and transform this activity into online donations for charities. More than ever, while…
In 2020, the world has been hit by an unprecedented public health crisis, with the effects of COVID-19 being felt across every aspect of people’s lives, writes Jaushieh Joseph Wu. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Charter of the United Nations—the mission statement that stands at the very heart…
The European Commission says it has concluded exploratory talks with CureVac to purchase a potential vaccine against COVID-19. This is following the positive steps with Sanofi-GSK on 31 July and Johnson and Johnson on 13 August and the signature of an Advance Purchase Agreement with AstraZeneca on 14 August. The envisaged contract with CureVac would…
When life returns to the EU institutions and work restarts after the holiday season, it should be highlighted that the summer was not wasted, writes László Andor. The European Council adopted critical, innovative and to some extent revolutionary decisions to create an effective fiscal capacity against the recession that has been triggered by the COVID-19…
The European Commission’s ambitious European Green Deal aims to address the twin challenge of energy efficiency and affordability and states that the European Union and the member states should engage in a ‘Renovation Wave’ of public and private buildings. This policy enjoys broad support and the renovation wave has also become a key element of…
Testing for COVID-19 will soon be possible at Brussels Airport thanks to the installation of a mobile laboratory. From the beginning of September, the mobile laboratory at Brussels Airport will enable passengers to obtain tests for Covid-19. This means that passengers returning from a red zone can be tested as soon as they arrive at…
This week, more batches of FFP2 and FFP3 protective masks are being distributed to Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia from rescEU – the common European reserve of medical equipment set up this year to help countries affected by the coronavirus pandemic. “We are delivering more masks from the rescEU reserve of medical equipment to help the national authorities in…
The pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on hotels in Brussels, according to a new report which says occupancy rates at many are a tiny fraction of this time last year. The Belgian capital’s hotels have ground to a halt, with tourists staying away from the country which is set to be added to the…
By Luiz Eduardo and Pedro Abramovay. Soldiers can be angels of mercy or weapons of tyranny. In Brazil, in 2016, when Zika virus swept through Brazil, the country deployed 220,000 soldiers to hand out educational material to citizens on how to combat the new virus that was ravaging the country, a strategy that proved effective in mitigating the spread of the…
