Main results On 23 April 2020 EU leaders discussed progress on the various dimensions of the European response to the COVID-19 outbreak. It was the fourth video meeting of this kind. • Conclusions by President Charles Michel after the video conference with members of the European Council on 23 April 2020 Lifting COVID-19 containment measures Leaders welcomed a European roadmap towards lifting COVID-19 containment measures, presented by Presidents Michel and von der Leyen on 15 April. "We all agreed that the health and safety of...

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"On April 20, 2020, the Secretary of the Treasury and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will be postponing for 90 calendar days the deadline for payment for the deposit of certain estimated duties, taxes, and fees for importers experiencing a significant financial hardship due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This temporary postponement applies to formal entries of merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption (including entries for consumption from a Foreign Trade Zone) in March 2020 or...

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April 22, 2020 | • ECB to grandfather until September 2021 eligibility of marketable assets used as collateral in Eurosystem credit operations falling below current minimum credit quality requirements • Appropriate haircuts will apply for assets that fall below the Eurosystem minimum credit quality requirements • Decision reinforces broader package of collateral easing measures adopted by the Governing Council on 7 April 2020, which will also remain in place until September 2021 • ECB may decide further measures, if needed, to continue ensuring...

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April 22, 2020 | The EU is taking further urgent measures to make the best use of cohesion policy money to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. The Council today adopted a second legislative act in less than a month amending the rules on the use of EU structural funds, which underpin EU cohesion policy. These changes allow member states to refocus resources on crisis-related operations. The act, known as the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative Plus, was adopted by written procedure less than three...

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The Commission has adopted a proposal for a €3 billion macro-financial assistance (MFA) package to ten enlargement and neighbourhood partners to help them to limit the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The proposal comes on top of the ‘Team Europe' strategy, the EU's robust and targeted response to support partner countries' efforts in tackling the coronavirus pandemic. It represents an important demonstration of the EU's solidarity with these countries at a time of unprecedented crisis. The proposal, following a...

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April 22, 2020 | The Commission is taking swift action and proposes additional exceptional measures to further support agricultural and food markets most affected. The EU agri-food sector is showing resilience in these unprecedented times, following the outbreak of the coronavirus. Still, some markets have been hit hard by the consequences of this public health crisis. Today's package includes measures for private storage aid (PSA) in the dairy and meat sectors, the authorisation of self-organisation market measures by operators in hard hit sectors and flexibility in fruits...

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April 19, 2020 | Blog post by EU High Representative Josep Borrell It is now more than a month that the corona virus has Europe in its grip. While every day we work flat out to address the crisis in all its aspects, it is good to step back and reflect on what living with COVID19 means, for our daily lives, for Europe, for the wider world and how it will affect our society. "These are testing times. We need to...

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April 16, 2020 | The OECD and member countries that provide foreign aid are exploring how they can work to help the most vulnerable countries to weather the Covid-19 crisis, as new data showed a rise in Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2019, particularly to the poorest countries. ODA from members of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) totalled USD 152.8 billion in 2019, a rise of 1.4% in real terms from 2018, according to preliminary data collected from official development...

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• U lags the US in digitalisation • Digital businesses outperform non-digital ones in growth and job creation In the fight against the Coronavirus, digital technology is playing an unprecedented role in the maintenance of daily life and economic and social activities, as well as in the recovery of industry and business. The Coronavirus pandemic is becoming a tipping point for digitalisation – the dawn of a new era – by accelerating the maturity of digital technology: what was once a...

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15 April, 2020 | • ECB supports the swift action taken by euro area macroprudential authorities to address the financial sector impact of the coronavirus outbreak by releasing or reducing capital buffers • Macroprudential measures will free up more than €20 billion of bank capital to absorb losses and support lending • Measures complement and reinforce microprudential measures taken by ECB The European Central Bank (ECB) supports the measures taken by euro area macroprudential authorities to address the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19)...

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