Investing in sparsely populated regions

The Conference on the Future of Europe launched Sunday (9 May) in Strasbourg can only succeed if local and regional communities are involved, the European Committee of the Regions has argued. EURACTIV France reports.

Spaniards have celebrated the dawn of a new normal as the country’s pandemic-era state of alarm expired at midnight on Sunday with the government refusing to propose a new legal framework to allow regions to implement new restrictions in case of fresh coronavirus outbreaks. EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.

Spanish politics has been thrown into turmoil following the expiration of the pandemic-era state of alarm at the start of this week which formed the legal basis for the country’s coronavirus restrictions, with health authorities warning regions no longer have the means to tackle infections. EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.

Implementing the EU’s €750 billion recovery plan in addition to regular regional spending at European level is likely to prove a challenge, the bloc’s politicians admitted at an informal meeting of EU cohesion ministers in Lisbon on Tuesday (18 May).

The far-away European Union territories could become “immunological laboratories” by accelerating and achieving full vaccination of the population there, Portugal’s Secretary of State for European Affairs, Ana Paula Zacarias said on Tuesday (18 May).