| 26/11/20 | Read online | 

EDITOR's TAKE: European Parliament President David Sassoli was not amused and expressed “astonishment and irritation” at France for publicly demanding that the EU’s legislature return to its official seat in Strasbourg - and expanding its presence there. Read more.

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BERLIN

German cabinet committee agrees to €1 billion anti-racism package. A committee in the German cabinet agreed to 89 measures on Wednesday to combat the rise of right-wing extremism and racism in the country. The measures will be presented to the full cabinet next week. Read the full story here.

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PARIS

French skiers to forego ‘Christmas on the slopes’. Skiing will not be permitted during the Christmas period, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday night in a televised speech where he laid out the country’s new health measures. Read more.

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BRUSSELS

Virus slows down in Belgium. The COVID-19 infection rate is now lower in Belgium than in neighbouring countries, Netherlands, Germany, France and Luxembourg, virologist and inter-federal COVID-19 spokesperson Steven Van Gucht said on Wednesday. He, however, warned the country is “still a long way from the safe harbour” as “pressure on hospitals is decreasing, but still remains high.”

At the same time, Federal Minister of the Self-Employed, David Clarinval, speaking ahead of the Consultation Committee meeting on  Friday, pleaded that all stores in Belgium should be reopened “as soon as possible” as otherwise, Belgians would consider going shopping in neighbouring countries where stores remain open. (Alexandra Brzozowski, EURACTIV.com)

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VIENNA

Western Austria to start mass testing earlier than other regions. Austria’s Western states (Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Salzburg) will have their tests already on the first weekend of December to make logistics more manageable, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced on Wednesday. Read more.

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Luxembourg parliament validates new COVID-19 measures. Luxembourg’s new COVID-19 measures will come into force on Thursday, after 31 MPs of the DP-Déi-Gréng-LSAP majority voted in favour. The opposition, which vote against the measures, have criticised the government for the proposed measures’ “lack of coherence”.

The new measures adopted on Wednesday are intended to offer a prospect of improvement in time for Christmas, according to members of the government majority. (Anne Damiani | EURACTIV.com)

LONDON

UK minister quits over development aid cuts. The UK government’s decision to cut development aid prompted an immediate backlash on Wednesday as junior minister Liz Sugg resigned, describing the cuts as “fundamentally wrong”. Read more.

Read also: UK set to slash development aid budget

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DUBLIN

Irish PM says “good result” in UK trade talks possible. Ireland’s prime minister Micheál Martin said on Wednesday there was still time for a “good result” in trade talks between Britain and the EU, though the bloc’s chief executive said the risk of a no-deal split on 31 December remained. Read more.

HELSINKI

COVID-19 causes political rift between Finnish government and City of Helsinki. Although the 15% increase in hospital admissions in the city of Helsinki has prompted the closing of facilities, cancelling public events and applying distance learning, there appears to be a clear rift between key decision-makers in the city and government, to the point that they find it hard to agree whether they have attended the same meetings or not. Read more.

ROME

Italians could be back in school by December. Two of the government coalition parties, 5-Star-Movement and Italy Alive, are asking for the return of in-person-schooling as of 9 December. Read more.

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ATHENS

Greece to raise awareness of COVID-19 vaccine. The conservative Greek government of New Democracy wants to have a cross-party agreement on a campaign to raise awareness over the need for people to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Read more.

SOFIA

Bulgaria to enter ‘soft lockdown’. Bulgaria will tighten its COVID-19 restrictions as of Friday at 11:30pm, the government announced after the country recorded the highest virus-related mortality rate in the EU and the second-highest in the world. Read more.

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BUCHAREST

Romanian president takes sides, makes things awkward. It is no secret that Romanian President Klaus Iohannis would like the National Liberal Party (PNL, part of EPP) to form the government following the elections set for 6 December. Although he is the biggest supporter of the current PNL government and has been attacking the social democratic party PSD for months, things have become awkward in the past few days. Read more.

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ZAGREB

Croatia scraps annual employment quotas with new law. There will no longer be an annual quota for the employment of foreign nationals in Croatia, according to the new Foreign Nationals Act adopted by parliament, which will enter into force on 1 January 2021. Read more.

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LJUBLJANA 

Slovenia waits for EU’s ski season guidelines. The Slovenian government has not yet taken a position regarding Italy’s appeal to close ski centres around Europe during the December holidays, the economy ministry told national press agency STA. The ministry expects the European Commission to send recommendations for the skiing season to member states. (Željko Trkanjec | EURACTIV.hr)

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BELGRADE | PRISTINA | TIRANA

Highway between Niš and Priština funded in part by EBRD, EU. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced on Wednesday it will provide a loan of up to €85 million for the construction of a 39-km section of the “Peace Highway” between the cities Niš and Pločnik in the south of Serbia. Read more.

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[Edited by Alexandra Brzozowski, Daniel Eck, Zoran Radosavljevic]