France extended curfews, closure of non-essential shops and travel restrictions to the whole country for 4 weeks, and closed schools. Germany is strengthening land controls with France, Denmark and Poland. In Spain, travel between regions is banned until 19 April. Italy imposed a 5-day quarantine on travellers from other EU countries and placed all regions in a red or orange zone until 30 April. Portugal is reopening museums and colleges. To follow the evolution of the situation, the Foundation offers you a summary of the sanitary measures in place and the conditions for travel throughout Europe. An essential, regularly updated resource for a better understanding of the situation.

On 29 March, the Commission awarded a €155 million grant to Greece for the construction of new reception centres for migrants on the islands of Lesbos and Chios. The funding will provide accommodation facilities, medical containers for immediate health care, safe areas for unaccompanied children and adolescents, as well as playgrounds and educational spaces. A separate area will be dedicated to asylum processing and return operations.

The Commission referred Poland to the European Court of Justice on 31 March over the law on justice that came into force at the beginning of 2020. It considers that the disciplinary procedures against judges and the lifting of their immunity "seriously undermine" the independence of the judiciary and the legal order of the Union. Pending the final ruling of the European Court of Justice, the Commission calls on Poland to suspend immediately the Disciplinary Chamber of the Polish Supreme Court, as well as the effect of decisions already taken by this chamber and measures taken in Poland to prevent judges from applying certain provisions of EU law.

The European Union and the Republic of Korea reached an adequacy finding on 30 March to promote high standards of data protection worldwide. This agreement opens new possibilities for closer cooperation between the EU and Korea. The Commission will now launch the procedure for the adoption of this decision.

On 4 April the Commission authorised the French State's €4 billion contribution to the recapitalisation of Air France. The Commission found that the aid was "necessary, appropriate and proportionate" and attached several conditions to its authorisation, including the transfer by Air France of slots at Paris Orly airport.

Member States agreed on 1 April on the distribution of a stockpile of 10 million doses of bioNTech-Pfizer vaccine to be delivered on an accelerated basis. 19 Member States will receive doses in proportion to their population. Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia, which are behind in vaccination, will receive an additional 2.8 million doses in proportion to the quota of 19. Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have refused to make part of their quota available to the 5 states.

The European Union and the United Nations co-chaired the 5th Brussels Conference "Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region", which took place on 29-30 March and brought together more than 80 countries and international organisations. The conference addressed the current situation in Syria, mobilising support for Syrians inside the country and in neighbouring countries, including for host communities, with pledges totalling €5.3 billion for 2021 and beyond. The conference also highlighted the challenges faced by host countries and communities such as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq that are showing solidarity in the region.

The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, and her Estonian and Czech counterparts, Kalle Laanet and Lubomir Metnar, visited Mali on 31 March to confirm the full operational capability of Task Force Takuba, the European special forces unit deployed to train the Malian army in the framework of Operation Barkhane. Takuba also includes Italian and Swedish troops.

On 24 March, Spain and the Netherlands published a joint paper on strategic autonomy. This " non-paper " argues that it is necessary more than ever before to reach a consensus on how to strengthen Europe's open strategic autonomy with a view to making the continent a resilient global player responsible for its own future. Strategic autonomy does not mean isolation or withdrawal, but rather a reformulation of the way sovereignty is understood, moving towards operational sovereignty, i.e. the ability to promote its own agenda.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted on 31 March a recommendation to Member States on the development and strengthening of national human rights institutions with a view to enhancing the promotion and protection of the latter.

On 1 April, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted guidelines to help the competent authorities in the Member States to better detect links and cooperation between organised crime groups and terrorist organisations and thus better combat and prevent terrorism.

The Gender Gap Report 2021, published by the World Economic Forum on 30 March, highlights that gender inequality has increased with the pandemic. The gender parity index has fallen to 68%, a 0.6 point drop from 2020. According to the World Economic Forum's calculation, it would take 135.6 years to close the gap, four years longer than before the crisis.

On 30 March the Commission published a report on the short-term outlook for EU agricultural markets. The first edition of 2021 concludes that the agricultural sector has shown resilience throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Moreover, the outlook is favourable with dynamic global demand and the expected reopening of food services (restaurants, bars, cafés) once the vaccination campaign is sufficiently advanced. Recent trade developments, particularly with the US, are reducing the uncertainty surrounding the EU's trade relations, which will benefit the agricultural sectors.

The National Orchestra of Spain is holding an extraordinary concert on 9 April at the National Music Auditorium in Madrid. The programme includes Felix Mendelssohn's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, the overture to The Marriage of Figaro and Mozart's Symphony No. 41.

The Bayeux Tapestry Museum offers an exploration of the work in high definition to admire it in all its details. Created in the 11th century, the 70-metre long tapestry, listed in UNESCO's "Memory of the World" register, tells the story of William the Conqueror's invasion of England in 1066.

The Albertina Museum in Vienna is hosting the exhibition "City and Landscape. Between Dream and Reality", devoted to key artists of romantic landscape painting over five centuries, such as Bruegel, Rembrandt and Canaletto. The exhibition is complemented by Austrian watercolours from the 19th century, featuring the Viennese cityscape by Jakob Alt.

On 11 April, the La Scala Theatre in Milan is offering an online concert on its Facebook site and on Youtube at 8 pm. Soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, accompanied by Tomasz Wabnic on violin and Marek Ruszczynski on piano, will perform works by Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

The Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra and its Capella Cracoviensis Choir are offering several concerts in April, including Acis and Galatea by Georg Friedrich Handel on 8 April. The concert will take place at 19:30 and will be available online and live. The orchestra will be conducted by Marek Toporowski, and the choir by Piotr Piwko.

France Médias Monde and Deutsche Welle, in partnership with media outlets in six European countries, are launching ENTR, a new digital medium aimed at 18-34 year olds. From now until the summer, ENTR will cover topics that affect young people through reports, portraits, features or videos on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook in six languages: French, German, English, Polish, Portuguese and Romanian.

The Opéra comique de Paris is organising a special family day online on 11 April. Activities, workshops and musical moments are on the programme for children and their parents.

Until 20 June, the Kunstmuseum Basel is presenting the Living Abstraction retrospective on the artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp, known for illustrating the 50 Swiss franc note. The exhibition, organised in cooperation with the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate in London, is dedicated to this pioneer of abstraction, one of the great figures of the modern avant-garde.

From 6 to 28 April, the Théâtre Antoine and the Théâtre Libre are organising the 4th edition of "Paroles citoyennes", a festival where the voices of contemporary authors meet those of great witnesses from civil society. This year, the meetings can be followed live on Facebook.