The European Commission has approved a €250m Latvian measure to recapitalise airBaltic in the context of the coronavirus outbreak. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Framework.

Despite the challenges of the Covid-19 outbreak in the first months of 2020, the EU’s agri-food trade remained strong. The value of agri-food exports from the EU totaled €46.8bn between January and March, making a jump of 6.2% compared to the first quarter of 2019, while the value of imports rose to €31.8bn registered an increase of 2.6%.

The Commission has launched a revamped version of the ‘Have Your Say' portal, an online platform open to citizens, including businesses and NGOs, to share their views on executive initiatives at key stages in the legislative process. 

The Single Market Scoreboard 2020, which shows that despite improvements in certain areas, Member States need to do more to ensure the proper functioning of the Single Market, was published by the Commission on Friday.

The Commission granted on Friday a conditional marketing authorisation for the US Gilead Sciences drug Remdesivir, making it the first medicine authorised at EU level for treatment against Covid-19. This authorisation, under an accelerated procedure, comes after a recommendation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), and endorsement by the Member States. 

The first call for proposals under the Innovation Fund, one of the world's largest programmes for the demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies, was kicked off by the Commission on Friday.

In a statement released on Thursday, EC President Ursula von der Leyen pointed out that reaching a swift and ambitious agreement on the European recovery package is the EU's highest priority for the coming weeks.

The Commission has adopted this week the Implementing Regulation on small-area wireless access points, or small antennas, which are crucial for the timely deployment of 5G networks that are delivering high-capacity and increased coverage as well as advanced connection speeds.

The Commission has launched a new call, worth €10.5m through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme, for projects that will work on stepping up Europe's cybersecurity capabilities and cooperation across Member States.

The European Commission has launched a call for proposals for €9m to further strengthen its support to fact-checkers and researchers, as foreseen in the recent Joint Communication to reinforce actions against disinformation.