The Commission is making €220m available to finance a safe cross-border transfer of patients where it is needed. It is in response of the serious situation of rising cases of infections,  hospitalisations and deaths across Europe during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.

European Council President Charles Michel called an informal leaders' video conference on 29 October to focus on Covid-19. EU heads of state and prime ministers will discuss the need to strengthen the collective effort to fight the pandemic.

For ensuring that tap water across the EU is safe to drink, on Friday the Council formally adopted its position at first reading to revise the drinking water directive. The position is based on the compromise reached in the negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament, facilitated by the Commission.

The European Union told Britain on Wednesday to make up its mind on Brexit, putting the onus back on London to unlock trade talks as the bloc’s chief negotiator said an agreement was still within reach.

The Council of the EU on Monday renewed the EU sanctions regime against ISIL/Da'esh and Al-Qaida and the related list of people subject to restrictive measures for another year until 31 October 2021. The decision was taken in light of the ongoing terrorist threat, the Council said in a statement.

The current pandemic has created numerous constraints throughout the EU, and this issue was also on the agenda of the EU leaders' meeting in Brussels on 15 and 16 October. Coordinated approach to measures restricting free movement were among the points of discussion. The heads of state and prime ministers assessed the current epidemiological situation, “which is unprecedented and gives rise to very serious concern”.

The state of play in the EU-UK negotiations was one of the pressing issues on the agenda of the European summit in Brussels on 15 and 16 October, along with climate change, Covid-19 coordination and EU-Africa ties. The main topic on Thursday was indeed taking stock of the implementation of the withdrawal agreement and reviewing the state of the negotiations on the future EU-UK partnership, and reflecting on all scenarios as of 1 January 2021, the day after UK's post-Brexit transition period expires.

The European Council sitting started in Brussels on Thursday afternoon with a tight agenda focused on the epidemiological situation, relations with the United Kingdom, climate change and relations with Africa. The summit was kicked off with a traditional exchange of views with EP President David Sassoli.

The socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and EU support to Ukraine, the next steps in the implementation of the Association Agreement, including its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, the state of reforms that Kiev is undertaking, and the foreign and security policy were the key topics on the agenda of the EU-Ukraine Summit, held in Brussels on Tuesday afternoon.

At a videoconference on Tuesday, the EU ministers of economics and finance reached a political agreement on the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the main instrument of the €750bn recovery package negotiated by EU leaders in July.