Wednesday
18th Mar 2020
Covid-19 showed how little it means to be European in times of crisis. But it makes one thing clear: the eurosceptic mantra of the 'European Superstate' becoming more ridiculous by the day.
Spain's lockdown involves never-before-seen measures, such as nationalisation of private health providers and closure of non-essential shops, but crowds on Monday morning showed teleworking was being only partly implemented.
Member states are taking varying courses of action to fight the spread of coronavirus, despite efforts by the European Commission to coordinate an EU response.
The European Commission has put forward a plan - which it says has strong support among member states - to deny non-essential travellers entry into the European Union for up to 30 days.
Malta has let the Libyan coastguard drag a boat of migrants from Maltese waters back to Libya despite the civil war, a UN agency said.
EU industry commissioner Thierry Breton said "We are at war with the virus. An economic war."
Unprecedented scenes in the Romanian parliament, where interim prime minister Ludovic Orban was reinstated amidst a full medical lockdown.
Belgium's King Philippe has given interim prime minister Sophie Wilmès the task of forming a government, after seven opposition parties agreed to support it. The agreement came after a political drama - and there are doubts if it will hold.
Far fewer people have been trying to cross the Greek border than in the past two weeks - but Turkey says migrants are still welcome to have a go.
Germany's federal government cannot make unilateral decisions to close schools or shut down public transport. Only local authorities can. What this has meant is that the German "lockdown" to contain the spread of coronavirus has proceeded in fits and starts.
The democratic engine of the EU - the European Parliament - has closed due to the virus, but one MEP explains how deputies continue to try to work.
Nine EU states have sealed their borders to non-nationals over the pandemic, despite experts saying it will do more harm than good.
A caretaker nurse with 23 years experience helping the elderly in Brussels is on the front line of a pandemic that has put the country into semi-lock down.
EU economic affairs ministers are still meeting on Monday, to discuss the impact of coronavirus. Parliament committees will also work on new measures to fight the pandemic.
By 18 March, trade commissioner Phil Hogan wants to sign a deal with the Trump administration which, to add a bit of spice, includes fast-tracking GMO imports in an attempt to please the US farming industry.
Beware the modernisers and saviours - autocrats often play the 'saving democracy' card as they undermine it.
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen warned countries not to unilaterally close borders, saying "I am convinced that the EU can withstand this shock."
EU states should keep borders open where possible and not give in to coronavirus "nationalism", French president Emmanuel Macron has said.
US president Donald Trump hit the EU economy with an unexpected travel ban, while markets went into a freefall after disappointment with the European Central Bank's measures to offset the coronavirus fallout.
Some 5,000 people stuck on the Greek islands will each be offered €2,000 to go home. The scheme is likely to take several weeks before officially launched and will be valid for one month.
State of emergency laws, some in breach of the constitution, were tabled in the Danish parliament in a bid to halt the spread of coronavirus.
The EU's only response so far is to work with Greece to strengthen the border into south-east Europe - a short-term measure which fails to deal with Turkey's intention to pressure the EU into supporting its wider agenda in Syria.
The EU's new Africa strategy promises relentless support for "a comprehensive continent-to-continent free trade area" - and ignores the risks posed by trade liberalisation where labour, fiscal and social regulation is immensely diverse and sometimes weak.
Revelations by the New York Times that Greece is running a black site where asylum seekers are detained, denied legal rights and then deported, will not be probed by the European Commission.
The US is pushing Kosovo and Serbia to make a peace deal, over a year after the last EU-led talks took place.
EU countries have introduced partial travel bans, shut down schools, sports and cultural events, closed cinemas and theatres in an effort to slow down the spread of covonavirus. Fears over the economic turmoil also grow.
A new circular economy strategy was adopted on Wednesday intended to strengthen the EU's economy, empower consumers and protect the environment. However, it fails to set targets for the EU's so-called 'material footprint' and waste reduction for specific waste streams.
"This is the worst crisis Italy has had to face since the end of the Second World War" says Emanuele Felice, professor of economic history at the University of Chieti-Pescara, and economic advisor to Italy's Democratic Party.
The EU commission has published new ideas on how to help industry handle the digital revolution, but decarbonisation and 2050 climate goals took second place.
The jury is still out on Josep Borrell; more recruitment is under way and he has a chance to have more women channelled women towards leadership positions.
Some three million more Syrian refugees are being "deliberately" pushed by Russia toward Europe, US diplomats have warned.
The European Commission is traveling to Athens to discuss tension on the Greece-Turkey border. It wants to find a better response on getting EU states to take in unaccompanied minors. It also wants to discuss Greece's controversial asylum-suspension measures.
The European Commission is to present its new pact on migration at the end of March. Margaritis Schinas, the commissioner in charge, says its 2016 Dublin-reform proposal will be "taken off and be repackaged, redrafted."
