Finnish industry suggests cancelling summer holidays to restructure economy

Before you start reading today’s edition of the Capitals, read here how 14 EU countries are looking to water down air passenger rights by allowing airlines to renege on their obligations to refund flights cancelled by the coronavirus.

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HELSINKI

Summer holidays cancelled? The Bank of Finland has estimated that coronavirus will decrease the country’s GDP this year drastically. If restrictions and closures last for more than three months the predicted fall would be around 5%, while in the worst-case scenario it would be above 10%.

A number of business stakeholders say summer should not be the time to go on holiday but rather focus on restructuring the economy. But, will the Finnish government be able to make such a political decision? Pekka Vänttinen reports from Helsinki.

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BERLIN

The start of a German exit strategy? A prominent German research institute, the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, released its awaited report on Monday (13 April) outlining the start of an exit strategy from the country’s COVID-19 restrictions. Leopoldina scientists advocate for the quick staggered reopening of the country’s schools, beginning with primary and lower secondary, and the mandatory wearing of face masks on public transport.

Last week, Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that Leopoldina’s findings will be an influential resource in her decision making about relaxing the restrictions on public life. She will e-meet with the 16 state premiers on Wednesday (15 April) to discuss a possible exit strategy.

Meanwhile, more than half of Germany’s COVID-19 patients have recovered, according to reports from the Robert Koch Institute. RKI data shows around 123,000 confirmed cases and 64,300 recoveries as of Monday. However, the institute only counts patients that have tested positive for the virus in their confirmed cases. With many COVID-19 cases only showing mild symptoms, these official statistics thus likely represent an undercount. (Sarah Lawton | EURACTIV.de)

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PARIS

Lockdown prolonged to 11 May. France’s confinement due to the pandemic, which entered into force on 17 March, is extended by four weeks to 11 May, Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday evening (14 April). From 11 May, schools and universities will be gradually reopened while bars, restaurants and theatres will remain closed. The situation will be reassessed from mid-May.

Macron also committed to being able to test everyone with symptoms by 11 May and warned that the most fragile people must remain confined after this date. He also promised that the state will allow “every French citizen to get a mask”, and he recommended a systematic use of masks on public transport and for the most exposed professions. Read more.

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BRUSSELS

Belgium nears 4,000 deaths. While the numbers of hospitalisations and people in intensive care are stabilising and suggest that the peak of the epidemic is reached, the number of deaths continues to increase sharply, Le Soir reported yesterday. An additional 303 deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 3,903. The total number of cases has reached 30,589 while authorities insist that the number underestimates the actual situation.

Riots after death of 19-year-old. A 19-year-old was killed in a car chase with the police in Belgium after his scooter collided head-on with a police vehicle as he attempted to flee a police check. Alexandra Brzozowski has more.

UK AND IRELAND

LONDON

The UK government’s scientific advisers will meet later on Tuesday to review the impact of lockdown measures on curbing the outbreak’s impact, which was heavily criticised for being implemented after other European countries. Sam Morgan reports.

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DUBLIN

Phone mast fires. A criminal investigation has been launched following a suspected arson attack on two telecommunication masts in County Donegal on Sunday evening. Fire services attended to the scene and no injuries were reported. Police authorities are treating the incident as suspected criminal damage. Samuel Stolton has more.

EUROPE’S SOUTH

MADRID

Workers to return but lockdown remains in force. As Spain prepares to allow some workers to resume activities, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warned that the lockdown remained in place and that things would not go back to the way they were, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported. “The exceptional suspension period for all non-essential economic activities that we established two weeks ago has just ended,” Sánchez said at a press conference on Sunday (12 April). Read the full story here.

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ROME

Slowly and steady. As of today, some selected businesses, including bookstores and stationery shops, will slowly restart operations in some Italian regions. International organisations located in Italy, like the UN agency FAO, are allowed to resume their activities too. Getting back to normal seems far off though, as the so-called phase two of the battle against the virus has not yet started.

The restrictive measures for people and most non-essential economic activities were extended until 3 May. The government is setting up a plan to restart some industrial sectors, like automotive, fashion business and metal-working, as early as next week, according to EURACTIV’s partner ANSA. (Gerardo Fortuna | EURACTIV.com)

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ATHENS

More migration pressure. Turkey is gathering a large number of migrants at its western coasts and urging them to sail across the sea border to neighbouring Greece, Greek media reported over the weekend. Sarantis Michalopoulos reports.

Recession in 2020 but recovery in 2021. In a televised message, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned that the economy would face a recession in 2020 but that recovery would be strong in 2021. “The recession will be great, but the recovery could be much greater in 2021 […] the burden of the crisis will be shared in a fair manner so that everyone shares in the blast of growth that will follow,” he said. Athens-Macedonian News Agency has more.

VISEGRAD

WARSAW

Virus press freedom. Poland was placed on Vice magazine’s list of 30 countries that are using the pandemic to repress freedom. The magazine states that “the current regime is seeking to force through the presidential election next month, despite a ban on campaigning due to the health crisis — a move the opposition says highly favours the incumbent, President Andrzej Duda.” (Łukasz Gadzała | EURACTIV.pl)

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BRATISLAVA

Roma settlements in police controlled quarantine. Five Roma settlements in the eastern part of the country comprising more than 6,000 people have been quarantined and are guarded by the police. This mostly goes against the government’s own guidance to close whole areas only when the ratio of infected people reaches 10%. The Ombudswoman and various experts have criticised the way the government is handling Roma communities in this crisis. Prime Minister Igor Matovič subsequently attacked the “so-called human rights activists” adding that they are “only courageous behind keyboards in Bratislava”, disregarding the fact that many of them have worked with Roma communities for years. (Zuzana Gabrižová | EURACTIV.sk)

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PRAGUE

Dispute over a statue. The Russian federation decided to file criminal charges against Prague district authorities over the recent removal of a statue of Soviet-era hero Ivan Konev. The Czech Foreign Ministry reacted on Friday (10 April) claiming that it “strictly denies any intervention of Russian federation’s state authorities into internal affairs of the Czech Republic”. Aneta Zachová reports from Prague.

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BUDAPEST

Justice minister responds to Juncker. “Contrary to the determination of the former European Commission President, the EU should have formulated a much more determined response not to the [Hungarian] Parliament’s decision, but should have properly coordinated the response to the virus and instead of criticising member states, extend immediate help to the Europeans in trouble,” Hungarian justice minister Judit Varga wrote in a social media post. Vlagyiszlav Makszimov reports.

NEWS FROM THE BALKANS

SOFIA

Bulgaria First. The government has obliged the mostly foreign supermarket chains to sell Bulgarian and local products. The decision was adopted at an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Sunday but has faced criticism from retailer groups. Krassen Nikolov reports from Sofia.

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ZAGREB

An incident on Easter. Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović said that three charges have been submitted due to inappropriate banners involving a sign that read “Za dom spremni”, which was used during the fascist regime in the 1940s. Thirteen people from Split, including one minor, were caught with the sign in front of a church on Easter Monday, offering their support to the local priest who held a mass despite the clear instructions from the archbishop.

A local reporter was also attacked on Easter Sunday in front of the church for trying to film the fact that locals were gathering for a mass during a lockdown. “We will not ignore the fact that officials with crucial roles in the fight against the pandemic have been attacked. Reporters have a key role in these times, and we are expected to protect them at any cost,” said minister Božinović. (Tea Trubić Macan, EURACTIV.hr)

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BELGRADE

More EU aid. Sem Fabrizi, head of the EU’s Delegation to Serbia, told Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić over the phone on 13 April that the Commission is offering a €78 million package of aid to help support the economy during the outbreak. EURACTIV Serbia reports.

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Sam Morgan]

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