Since 24 January, the vaccination pass has been required in France for access to bars, restaurants, cultural venues and interregional transport. In Spain, Catalonia lifted the curfew on 21 January, and the health pass is no longer required in restaurants in Cantabria. In Ireland, the curfew for bars and restaurants was lifted on 22 January, as well as limitations on the number of people at indoor and outdoor events. In Belgium, from 28 January, bars and restaurants can stay open until midnight, and a barometer setting restrictions in cultural venues according to the situation comes into force. In Austria, the parliament passed the compulsory vaccination law on 20 January, which will come into force on 4 February. To follow the evolution of the situation and to understand the measures in place in the EU Member States, the Foundation offers you a complete map of the measures in place. An indispensable, regularly updated resource.

In response to the economic and social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, the EU has established a €672.5 billion recovery fund, known as the Recovery and Resilience Facility, for Member States in the form of grants and loans. 22 plans have so far been approved by the Commission and Council, and 20 countries have received the planned pre-financing, including Finland, which received €271m on 21 January. The Commission has so far not approved the Hungarian and Polish plans due to infringements of the rule of law. The Foundation offers you an interactive map of the plans country by country, showing the sums involved, the timetables and the priorities.

As part of the second annual Fabrique Défense organised by the French Ministry of Defence, which will be held from 28 to 30 January at the Grande Halle de La Villette in Paris, the Foundation is organising a debate on 29 January on European resilience in a new geopolitical context. It is necessary to enrol. On 26 January, the Foundation and the IHEDN are organising a videoconference on the challenges of the strategic compass that the European Union is due to adopt in March.

On 20 January, the Commission gave Poland 45 days to pay €69 million in daily penalties imposed by the European Court of Justice for failing to comply with a ruling suspending the disciplinary chamber of the Polish Supreme Court. In case of non-payment, the Commission will deduct the sum from the EU funds intended for Poland. The Commission has already asked Poland to pay €15 million for failing to comply with a Court ruling ordering the closure of a coal mine.

French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the programme of the French Council presidency with MEPs on 19 January in Strasbourg. He said he wanted the right to abortion and environmental protection to be included in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. He also called for the construction of "a new European security order" with NATO as part of the development of the European Union's strategic autonomy and the reflection on the strategic compass.

On 20 January, MEPs definitively adopted a text that strengthens the role of the European Medicines Agency. The aim is to make the fight against shortages of medicines and medical equipment more effective, in particular through the creation of two "steering groups" to manage the European platform for monitoring shortages in order to facilitate the collection of information.

On 20 January, MEPs adopted the Digital Services Act (DSA), which sets out the responsibilities and obligations of intermediary service providers, in particular social media. The proposed measures include the removal of illegal products, services and content. The text provides for more options for no-tracking ads, a ban on the use of minors' data for targeted ads, and more transparency about algorithms to combat harmful content and misinformation.

The third plenary meeting of the Conference on the Future of Europe took place in the Parliament in Strasbourg on 21-22 January. Delegates discussed the recommendations of the citizens' panels and the corresponding national panels on two themes: "European democracy, values and rights, rule of law and security" and "climate change, environment and health". All Europeans can contribute to the debates on the conference platform.

As part of the ministerial conference organised by France on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the "Erasmus+" programme, on 20 January, the ministers expressed their wish to offer all young people the possibility of a European experience. In particular, they committed together with the Commission to strengthen partnerships between Member States with a view to consolidating European networks and facilitating the use of mobility for apprentices. The Foundation has published a study on this subject.

On 21 January, health ministers discussed best practices for managing the crisis and how best to align national strategies. They agreed to improve the sharing of information on national vaccination campaigns, to fully mobilise the instruments introduced by the European Union and reaffirmed the principle of vaccine solidarity in the world.

The environment ministers met on 20 and 21 January in Amiens to discuss the challenges of the ecological transition, health and biodiversity. They discussed the European harmonisation of rules governing the use of plant protection products and the fight against imported deforestation. The ministers discussed the role of wood in energy policies and how to support businesses and households in the climate transition. On 22 January, the energy ministers discussed energy prices, efficiency and hydrogen. They agreed on the importance of deepening solidarity in terms of security of supply. They repeated their wish to create a hydrogen value chain, associated with an industrial sector.

The Protocol on the provisional application of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court entered into force on 19 January. This international treaty complements and strengthens the centralised system for granting European patents, already provided by the European Patent Office (EPO). The Unified Patent Court (UPC) will have jurisdiction over actions for infringement and invalidity of patents granted by the EPO, allowing for better protection of European inventions and a less costly litigation procedure for patent holders.

The exhibition "Hito Steyerl. I Will Survive' opens at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam on 29 January and will run until 12 June. Hito Steyerl is one of the most influential people in contemporary art. Combining visual art and film, she works to highlight the pressing issues of our time through a variety of genres ranging from the creation of innovative multimedia installations to the production of documentaries.

The exhibition "Relax" can be seen at the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna until 6 March. The artists Christoph Meier, Ute Müller, Robert Schwarz and Lukas Stopczynski present a new version of the Loos American Bar, a Viennese bar known for its unusual architecture.

The exhibition "Bernar Venet, 1961 - 2021" offers a retrospective of the artist's works to be visited from 29 January to 5 May in hangars 2 and 3 of Berlin's former Tempelhof Airport. The painter, sculptor and performance artist reshapes his environment through art to give his own perspective on the world.

From 29 January to 17 April, the Royal Academy in London is devoting an exhibition to Francis Bacon, which focuses on the artist's fascination with animals and the similarities he perceived between them and humans.

To mark the 60th anniversary of Yves Saint Laurent's first fashion show, the Centre Pompidou, the Louvre Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the Musée d'Orsay, the Musée National Picasso-Paris and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Paris are working together to organise a unique exhibition dedicated to the designer from 29 January. Until 25 May, each museum is highlighting the designer's links with French art and public collections to offer an exhibition in six different locations.

Villeurbanne has been named "French Capital of Culture" for the year 2022 by the French Ministry of Culture. During this year, the city will present a cultural programme reflecting the popular and urban identity of the town, including a Youth Festival.

The Centro Sefarad Israel in Madrid is hosting the exhibition "Seeing Auschwitz" until 15 July, a visual record of the camp, its prisoners and those who died there, but also of the life of the communities before the Shoah. The exhibition is supported by the UN, UNESCO and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.