Many Africans are managing to evade coronavirus lockdown barriers in Niger, the Sahel’s migrant crossroads, as they press on with their perilous desert trek to the Mediterranean Sea and ultimately Europe. The migrant flow has slowed down but not dried up despite tight checks in the capital Niamey, and an increase of desert security patrols that have detained hundreds of people as desperate as ever to reach Europe, officials and former smugglers said. “Gambians, Senegalese, Malians, they are all determined to head there,” said Alassane Mamane, a retired civil servant…
Read MoreDay: May 11, 2020
France and Holland join forces to urge EU to show teeth on trade
France and the Netherlands have joined forces to urge the European Union to enforce environmental and labour standards more forcefully with countries the bloc signs trade deals with, according to a document seen by Reuters. The initiative comes as the EU tries to negotiate a new trade deal with Britain, which formally left the bloc on 31 January, amid concerns that it might seek to undercut EU labour and environmental standards to boost its competitiveness. The involvement of the traditionally strongly pro-free trade Dutch underscores a shift in European thinking…
Read MoreItaly will provide further support to companies, including tax breaks, hybrid bonds
Italy’s government is readying new measures to support companies struggling due to the coronavirus crisis, including tax incentives and hybrid bonds, and aims to access the European Recovery Fund in the second half of the year, Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri said on Sunday (10 May). “The State has the duty to intervene to defend and support workers and firms. Nobody wants to state-direct the economy but interventions that protect and at the same time stimulate the productive system are needed,” Gualtieri told newspaper Il Messaggero in an interview. Italy, one…
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