Paris and Berlin have added their names to a growing list of EU capitals asking for the European Green Deal to be placed at the heart of the EU’s post-pandemic recovery plan...

The op-ed was initially put online on Thursday (9 April) and signed by the environment ministers of 10 EU countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden...

Greece is also expected to join soon...

At a summit on 26 March, EU leaders asked the EU executive to start preparing “a comprehensive recovery plan” that also integrates the green and digital transitions. EU climate chief Frans Timmermans has since pledged to “work towards a green recovery”, citing clean energy sources as having a crucial role to play in the transition...

[T]he Commission launched a public consultation on its “Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy”...

Green finance will be a “key focus” of the post-virus recovery phase, said Vladis Dombrovskis, the EU executive vice president in charge of the economy...

EU heads of states and governments will now convene by video conference on 23 April to discuss the next stage of the recovery phase.

Charles Michel, the President of the European Council who chairs EU summit meetings, said he was working on a “roadmap and action plan” to bring the EU back to growth “based on a green and digital strategy”.