France extended restrictions to three more departments and was declared a high risk area by Germany. Romania has brought forward shop closures and curfews in the worst-affected areas, Belgium has closed schools and left shops open by appointment only, and the Netherlands has extended the measures in place. European leaders are trying to speed up the vaccination campaign. To follow the development of the situation, the Foundation offers you a summary of the sanitary measures in place and travel conditions across Europe. An essential regularly updated resource for a clearer understanding of the situation.

On 25 March, the Commission presented its action plan for the development of organic production, in line with the Green Deal for Europe, the strategy "From Farm to Fork" and that of biodiversity. The plan, based on three key areas: encouraging consumption, increasing production and further improving the sustainability of the sector, aims to provide the production sector with the appropriate tools to reach the target of 25% of the agricultural area devoted to organic farming by 2030.

The Union for Health programme (EU4Health) entered into force on 26 March. It aims to strengthen the resilience of health systems and promote innovation in the sector, with a budget of €5.1 billion, to improve the use of resources and the availability and accessibility of medicines, medical devices and products needed in times of crisis.

On 24 March, the Commission presented its first comprehensive strategy on the rights of the child and a proposal for a European Child Guarantee. The strategy focuses on six thematic areas: children as agents of change in democratic life, children's right to realise their full potential, to be free from violence, to child-friendly justice, to navigate safely in the digital environment, and children's rights in the world. Member States should ensure that children in need have free and effective access to education services and school activities, healthy school meals and health care.

On 22 March, the Commission endorsed the position adopted by the Council on 16 March regarding the draft regulation establishing the Union's anti-fraud programme. Under an informal agreement reached with the Parliament in December 2020, the programme has a budget of €181.207 million for the period 2021-2027. The text can now be adopted by the Parliament at second reading.

On 25 March, MEPs decided to give urgent consideration to the proposal for a digital green certificate, so that it can be adopted before the summer. Parliament will adopt its position at the April plenary session. In the debate before the vote, several MEPs stressed the need to protect citizens' personal and medical data and not to discriminate against people who have not been vaccinated.

On 25 March, MEPs adopted a report on the European data strategy which stresses the importance of protecting European citizens' data and health data, but also of limiting the ecological footprint of digital technology. It calls for the establishment of a common European health data space to allow data to be shared in complete security. It insists that the processing of personal data, including their transfer, should always be done in compliance with the acquis communautaire on data protection, and wants legislation on data to facilitate technological development and encourage innovation.

On 25 March, MEPs adopted a strategy for a new partnership with Africa that aims to empower the continent. The strategy gives priority to education, health systems and gender equality. Cooperation also covers the green transition, digital transformation, sustainable employment, good governance and migration. MEPs want both sides to cooperate by earmarking substantial funds in the "Global Europe" external financing instrument. Parliament also calls for debt relief from the IMF and World Bank.

On 25 March, MEPs approved the implementation of the Own Resources Decision, which allows the EU to launch the €750 billion NextGenerationEU plan. MEPs adopted the regulation on own resources based on plastic packaging waste, which will apply retroactively from 1 January.

MEPs have threatened to take the Commission to the European Court of Justice if it delays further the application of the rule of law conditionality mechanism. In a resolution adopted on 25 March, they warn that if the Commission fails to present its guidelines on the mechanism by 1 June, Parliament "will consider this to be a failure to act.

On 25 March, MEPs called for policies to strengthen the international role of the euro. Among the points highlighted were the political and strategic role of the single currency on the international scene, as well as its capacity to improve the resilience of the international financial system.

In an open letter published on 30 March, 23 heads of State and government, including Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel and Boris Johnson, as well as the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the Director of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, call for a new international treaty on pandemic preparedness and response. The aim of the treaty would be to promote a global response to the virus to ensure the health of all with more effective international cooperation. Examples of cooperative measures are warning systems, information sharing, research, vaccines and medicines.

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, expressed concern on 24 March about racism and discrimination in Portugal. She called on the Portuguese authorities to implement an action plan against racial hatred, especially against Roma and people of African descent. The Commissioner reminds politicians that they should not contribute to the propagation of hate speech, either by participating in it or by tolerating it. Finally, the Commissioner calls on the country to combat violence against women and domestic violence more effectively.

At the 40th session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Dutchman Leendert Verbeek was elected President for two and a half years. He called for an increase in the Congress' funding so that it can carry out its mission of protecting human and citizens' rights, preserving democracy and ensuring security.

On 23 March, the Council of Europe's Venice Commission published 13 opinions adopted at its plenary session on Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, Spain and Ukraine. It recommends that Montenegro should not "politicise" the ongoing prosecutorial reforms, that Spain should revise the Law on Citizens' Security, and welcomes some of the improvements made in Ukraine by the reform of the Constitutional Court. Furthermore, the experts also adopted an opinion on the constitutional amendments in Russia, as well as on the draft law amending the Law on the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum in Florence is hosting the "Silk" exhibition, available online, which pays tribute to Fulvia Ferragamo, who in the 1970s launched the continuous production of silk accessories with personalised patterns characterised by prints made in Como with exclusive decorative objects, in particular flowers and exotic animals formed by a patchwork of flowers.

Until 30 June, the Grand Theatre-Opera in Warsaw is hosting an exhibition on the Polish painter Jan Cybis, a leading figure in the group of Polish colourists who went to Paris in the 1930s and were nicknamed the Kapists. Until it reopens to the public, the exhibition is available online and in virtual reality.

On 3, 5 and 10 April, the Städel Museum in Frankfurt is presenting an online guided tour of major works by women artists such as Lotte Laserstein, Ottilie W. Roederstein and Cindy Sherman. The tour offers an insight into why women's positions in art have remained relatively unexplored for centuries.

Until 5 April, the Albertina Museum in Vienna is offering visitors the opportunity to discover the Jablonka collection via a planned online tour or a self-guided 3D virtual tour. Collected by the German art dealer Rafael Jablonka, it is one of the most prestigious collections of American and German art of the 1980s. Approximately 110 paintings, sculptures and works on paper have been selected to show the great diversity of the collection.

The Prado Museum in Madrid is hosting the exhibition "Mythological Passions: Titian, Veronese, Allori, Rubens, Ribera, Poussin, Van Dyck, Velazquez" until July 4. It offers a selection of 29 mythological paintings created in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.