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 […]
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ECB 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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How much do governments spend on defence?
In 2018, the 27 EU Member States’ government expenditure on defence amounted to €162 billion, representing 2.6% of total government expenditure. This is equivalent to 1.2% of GDP. Overall, in the EU, general government expenditure on defence as a percentage of GDP slightly decreased since the beginning of the time series in 2001 (1.4%). Highest ratio of government expenditure on […]
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Healthy Agricultural Soils: 24 EU countries coordinate unprecedented research programme
Over the next five years, 26 partners from 24 European countries will work together on climate-smart, sustainable management of agricultural soils. The European Joint Programme on Soil will be closely aligned with future work to be developed under the Horizon Europe Mission on “Soil health and food”, and it is expected to contribute to the […]
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