Hungarian PM Victor oRban said on Friday that if funding under the EU's coronavirus recovery plan were linked to rule-of-law conditions, Budapest could veto any deal as a last resort, news wires reported. The EU's 27 national leaders are to meet next week in Brussels for the first time in person since the COVID-19 crisis to hash out details of the next multiannual EU budget and post-pandemic recovery.

An ordinance signed by Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza on Thursday bans the entry of people arriving from at-risk countries into Italy due to the coronavirus, ANSA reported.

Poland's presidential candidates, incumbent Andrzej Duda and Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, will make a final push to mobilise voters on Friday, the last day of the presidential campaign ahead of the Sunday vote. At midnight on Friday a pre-election silence will set in and the publishing of opinion polls and campaigning will be prohibited.

Eurozone officials are ready to let Croatia and Bulgaria into the ERM-2 mechanism, a preliminary stage for adopting the euro as their currency in the next three years, four sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Athens is in talks with Brussels over the country’s inclusion in Belgium’s elevated risk zone for travel, according diplomatic sources cited by state-run news agency ANA-MPA and Ekathimerini.

Slovakia has seized 1.5 tons of methamphetamines, with an estimated street value of some €2bn, which was being smuggled into the country and originated in Mexico, officials said on Thursday. The seizure was described by Slovak authorities as the country's largest-ever.

Meeting in Madrid on Wednesday the prime ministers of Italy Giuseppe Conte and of Spain Pedro Sanchez agreed a Recovery Fund deal must be reached by the EU by the end of this month, ANSA reported.

Public sector workers walked off their jobs last Wednesday in defence of Greeks' right to protest, as parliament began debating a government bill to place restrictions on the country's frequent street demonstrations, news wires reported. During long debt crisis, which began in late 2009 and led to three international bailouts, Syntagma Square outside parliament became the scene of massive anti-austerity protests.

Catalan President Quim Torra announced on Wednesday that from Thursday, 9 July, wearing a face mask will be compulsory in all public spaces in the region, regardless of the safety distance. So Catalonia becomes the first autonomous community in Spain to make face masks compulsory in all indoor and outdoor public spaces at all times.

The French government said Wednesday it is preparing for a second wave of COVID-19 cases that could emerge in the coming months, but will not respond with another nationwide lockdown to contain the outbreak.