Parliament discussed the COVID-19 outbreak with the Commission and the Croatian presidency on Tuesday, underlining the need to slow down the spread across Europe. Stella Kyriakides, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said COVID-19 was a public health emergency that is changing by the hour. Member states must focus on containing the virus […]
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The NHS Inter-Territorial Council agrees on specific measures for areas with significant community transmission of coronavirus
The Inter-Territorial Council of the National Health System, of which the Ministry of Health and the Autonomous Regions are members, has agreed on a package of measures for areas that are in a significant community transmission stage. At the moment only the Community of Madrid, the city of Vitoria and the town of Labastida are […]
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EDA Statement: COVID-19 Update
The European Defence Agency (EDA) confirms that two additional staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. Both staff members have been at home in self-isolation since 2 March and have thus not returned to the Agency since symptoms appeared. Given that both staff members had been in close contact with the first staff member who […]
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This week in Brussels: long-term budget, climate law, COVID-19
MEPs will discuss the Coronavirus outbreak, the EU’s long-term budget and the situation at the Greek-Turkish border during the plenary session on 9-12 March. Agenda Coronavirus Following the rapid spread of the Coronavirus, MEPs will assess EU efforts to come up with a coherent EU-wide response on Tuesday. They will vote on a resolution on Thursday. […]
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Statement of the Foreign Affairs Council about the crisis in Idlib and the situation at the EU external borders with Turkey
The EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs met last week for an extraordinary Council meeting to discuss the crisis in Idlib and the situation at the EU external borders with Turkey. The Council acknowledges the increased migratory burden and risks Turkey is facing on its territory and the substantial efforts it has made in hosting 3,7 […]
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Antimicrobial resistance in the EU: infections with foodborne bacteria becoming harder to treat
The latest data from humans, animals, and food show that a large proportion of Salmonella bacteria are multidrug-resistant. In humans, resistance to ciprofloxacin is common, particularly in certain types of Salmonella, and resistance to high concentrations of ciprofloxacin increased overall from 1.7% (2016) to 4.6% (2018). For Campylobacter, 16 out of 19 countries report very high or extremely high […]
Read MoreECB announces operational precautions linked to coronavirus
All non-essential travel by ECB Executive Board and staff members restricted until 20 April 2020 Conferences at the ECB postponed, with exception of monetary policy press conferences All non-essential visits including visitor group programme suspended The Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) today announced a range of operational measures that it is taking […]
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COVID-19: Commission steps up research funding and selects 17 projects in vaccine development, treatment and diagnostics
Following the publication of a €10 million call in January, the Commission has secured an additional €37.5 million for urgently needed research on COVID-19 vaccine development, treatment and diagnostics. This action is part of the coordinated EU response to the public health threat of COVID-19. With the additional amount from the Horizon 2020 programme, the Commission is scaling up […]
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New project to improve biological detection, identification & monitoring equipment
A new phase in EDA’s testing and evaluation project of biological detection, identification and monitoring (DIM) equipment was launched on 26 February at a kick-off meeting at the Agency. Aims Dubbed ‘T&E Bio DIM Phase 2’ (2020-2023) the project aims to deliver improved testing and evaluation capabilities to ensure the performance of biological DIM systems […]
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