Europeans' support in their national governments has plummeted since the pandemic began, while the image of the EU and trust in the 27-nations bloc remains strong and steadily increasing, according to two new surveys.

The Covid-19 crisis has revealed that the current European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has neither the funding, the staff or – perhaps most importantly – the authority to lead an effective response to a pandemic in Europe.

The European Commission has updated the common approach to travel measures in the EU, urging member states to gradually lift restrictions - in a bid to end a current patchwork of rules across the bloc.

The Czech government has lost its fourth health minister during the Covid crisis. But it's new (fifth) one, was actually also the first - making a total of four.

A jab-in-the-arm rather than a bite-to-the-neck is what visitors get if they choose to vaccinate in one of Romania's most famous tourist attractions.

Re-opening to travellers safely stands as the main challenge to relaunch the tourism sector, which in pre-pandemic times accounted for 13 percent of Italy's GDP.

Workers such as United Nurses Association of India are furious that the EU is undermining their best efforts and exacerbating the crisis by continuing to put big-pharma profits ahead of Covid vaccine patent-waivers. Is this what solidarity looks like?

The EU has agreed to roll out Covid certificates as of 1 July, allowing people to prove their status in order to ease summer travel across the 27 member states.

"To have solved the problem, the unacceptable problem of inadequate access to vaccines, we have to be holistic, it is not one or the other," the WTO chief told the European Parliament's trade committee.

Economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni warned that despite the economic rebound, the risk of worsening poverty, social exclusion, and inequality "is very real".

The European Union has launched a second legal action against AstraZeneca - in a bid to oblige the company to deliver 90 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to EU member states by the end of June.

Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo announced that from 9 June restaurants, cinemas, theatres and fitness centres will be able to open their doors again. Indoor and outdoor events will steadily be able to host more people.

Economy commissioner Paolo Gentoloni said the real challenge is whether member states can stick to their national plans and timelines. However, more than a dozen EU countries still need to ratify legislation to start the funding.

The European Union is now ready to discuss the proposal to waive temporarily intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines - following the historic decision by Washington in favour of easing patent rules.