Euractiv.com

Many Italian companies and academics are pressing the government to reopen factories to prevent an economic catastrophe, as the world watches how the first Western country to impose a lockdown can extricate itself from the unprecedented measures.

The European Central Bank on Tuesday (7 April) announced an "unprecedented" easing of collateral requirements in a bid to boost bank lending during the coronavirus crisis.

The Slovenian parliament on Tuesday (7 April) passed legislation which will enable the chamber to convene over the internet if that became necessary because of the coronavirus outbreak, parliamentary speaker Igor Zorcic said.

If, like Cicero wrote, the sinews of war are infinite money, let’s make sure the funds are being used for the right battles, write Brook Riley and Peter Sweatman.

Poland's parliament has backed a plan to conduct the presidential election on 10 May by postal ballot because of the coronavirus pandemic, raising concerns among democracy advocates that the vote will not be fair or fully transparent.

Spain moved on Tuesday (7 April) to tackle a shortfall of farm workers due to the coronavirus crisis by authorising the temporary hiring of tens of thousands of immigrants or jobless people.

The European Commission will on Wednesday (8 April) consider how to craft a plan to ease the bloc out of a virus lockdown that has dealt a body blow to the economies of EU members.

The UK could be the European country worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic, suffering a death toll over 66,000 by August, according to a study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Seattle released on Tuesday (7 April).

The European Union is to put up €15 billion to help poor countries fight the coronavirus epidemic, the bloc's chief announced on Tuesday (7 April).

Lockdown measures decided across the globe to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, are having “devastating” consequences on labour markets, affecting around 81% of the world’s workforce, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) warned on Tuesday (7 April).

Facebook's WhatsApp tightened message forwarding limits on Tuesday, restricting users to sharing forwarded content one chat at a time after a jump in messages touting bogus medical advice since the start of the coronavirus crisis.

EFSA published its annual report on pesticide residues found in food in the European Union on Thursday (2 April) which found that the food commodities analysed were “unlikely to pose concern for consumer health.”

Today is World Health Day. More than any time before, societies realise that doctors and medical personnel are of paramount importance. They are the true heroes of our time and will be applauded from windows and balconies.

EU citizens need a guaranteed universal income until normal economic activity returns, argues Pere Aragonès.

Spain’s daily coronavirus fatalities jumped on Tuesday (7 April) after four days of decline, according to new data collected at the weekend, although health authorities said there was an overall downward trend in figures.

The extraordinary measures being taken to restrict the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus, such as shutting down bars, restaurants and festivals to prevent social gatherings, have been keenly felt by the whole hospitality sector and its suppliers.

The Netherlands has never said that European Parliament President David Sassoli should be excluded from talks on the EU's response to the coronavirus crisis, a Dutch spokesperson told EURACTIV.com following a report in Spanish newspaper El Pais.

The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus is also threatening the aviation industry. While Boeing's production of commercial aircraft is virtually at a standstill, Airbus intends to downsize production. EURACTIV's partner La Tribune reports.

The European Parliament's Strasbourg facilities will host a screening centre and a COVID-19 consultation centre, according to France's European minister Amélie de Montchalin. EURACTIV's partner Ouest-France reports.

The EU and the UN's Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) yesterday (6 April) launched a programme to help Eastern Partnership countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine - claw back assets linked to organised crime.