BRUSSELS/PARIS, May 26 -- As markets and industries lick their wounds from the impact of the coronavirus crisis, European governments are turning their focus to reopening and rescuing the battered economy.
France on Tuesday unveiled a major recovery plan to revive the country's auto industry, which has been crippled by the loss of sales and production during the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown aimed to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, an online dashboard maintained by the WHO European Region showed that 2,044,870 confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported in 54 countries, with 175,184 deaths as of 10:00 a.m. CET (0800 GMT) on Tuesday.
"HISTORIC PLAN" IN FRANCE
Following a visit to a Valeo car parts factory in northern France, President Emmanuel Macron announced an 8-billion-euro (8.78 billion U.S. dollars) rescue plan to help the recovery of the auto industry.
"The state will provide more than eight billion euros in aid to the sector," Macron said.
The president, who met with industry bosses early in the day, said the "historic plan," which aims to "face a historic situation," was based on a support package and a scrappage scheme to shift towards less polluting vehicles.
"We need to defend our industry and make France Europe's top producer of clean vehicles," with an output of one million electric and hybrid cars per year by 2025, said Macron.
"Bankruptcies should be avoided at all costs," he said. To help promote clean cars, he also announced a higher state bonus for the purchase of a clean vehicle by individual consumers and businesses, from 6,000 euros to 7,000 euros.
According to figures released by the French Automobile Manufacturers Committee, sales of French vehicle brands plunged by 84.2 percent in April.
France's massive rescue plan came one day after Deutsche Lufthansa AG said the German government's Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF) has approved a 9-billion-euro rescue package for the airline.
Lufthansa said the WSF would provide up to 5.7 billion euros in the form of "silent participation" in the company's assets, of which nearly 4.7 billion euros would be classified as equity in accordance with related financial rules.
Lufthansa was operationally healthy and profitable before the pandemic and has good prospects for the future, but it came into an existential emergency due to the coronavirus crisis, the WSF Committee, which consists of representatives of several federal ministries, said in a statement.
EASING BORDER CONTROLS
In a phased approach, European countries are cautiously easing their border controls, as part of their efforts to reopen the tourism industry, which is one of the hardest-hit sectors and accounts for about 10 percent of the European Union's economic output.
On May 13, the European Commission had offered a tourism and transport package, recommending that EU member states with "similar overall risk profiles" on the pandemic should open to tourists from each other's countries. Two days later (on May 15), Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became the first EU nations to reopen their shared borders.
Starting on Tuesday at midnight, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic will reopen their respective borders to each other's citizens for stays of no more than 48 hours without quarantine, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said on social media.
Also on Tuesday, the Czech Republic began reopening its border crossings with neighboring Germany and Austria.
"From Tuesday, we are opening all railway and road crossings with Germany and Austria, as well as the Hrensko river crossing, and we are abolishing comprehensive border controls," Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said on Monday in a statement, adding that proof for a negative COVID-19 test will still be mandatory and border checks will be random.
But crossing borders in non-designated areas will still be prohibited until June 13, and the external borders of the Schengen area will be closed until at least June 15, Czech media reported.
Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia had already reached an agreement to allow tourists from the three countries to travel without a quarantine period of 14 days, starting from June 1.
Meanwhile, the German government is planning to lift a travel warning for tourists from 31 European countries from June 15, ending an uNPRecedented directive against all international travel, German news agency DPA reported on Tuesday.
Alongside Germany's 26 fellow EU member states, the warning will also be lifted for Britain and the four non-EU members of the borderless Schengen area -- Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, DPA reported.
Germany's plans, which are contingent on continuing positive trends in the coronavirus pandemic, could be approved by Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet as early as Wednesday, DPA said. Enditem
12月SAT写作真题
SAT写作素材之美国作曲家艾伦·科普兰
SAT写作6分范文之authority
SAT作文高分范文之conscience
SAT写作开头怎么写?
SAT写作高分技巧之结尾
SAT写作高分例子之青藏铁路
SAT写作高分短句8个
SAT写作常用模板一个
SAT写作常用高分句型10个
SAT写作常见结构模板
SAT写作素材之投资者罗斯·佩罗
SAT写作常用词汇对比总结
SAT写作高分法则两个
三个经典SAT写作题目总结
三类SAT写作题目小结
SAT写作备考要注意文化差异
10月SAT写作真题
SAT写作素材之意大利航海家哥伦布
6道SAT写作题目练习
10月SAT写作真题回忆
SAT写作备考建议五个
SAT写作真题分类之Individuality
SAT写作高分模板一个
两类SAT写作例子总结
SAT写作素材之克隆人
SAT写作满分注意事项
4道SAT写作真题
SAT作文高分素材之印象派画家莫奈
SAT写作经典素材之沃尔玛创始人山姆·沃顿
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |