Italy

Indebted eurozone countries such as Greece or Italy need European Union grants rather than loans to deal with the impact of the coronavirus crisis, European Central Bank Vice-President Luis de Guindos said on Wednesday.

Sweden will lift its advice against non-essential travel to 10 European countries from June 30, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

The countries are Greece, Croatia, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, France, Iceland, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) chair Hakan Fidan visited Libya on June 17 for official meetings.

The delegation met with the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj.

The EU's passenger car market shrank 41.5% in the January-May period this year compared to the same period last year, an industry group said on June 17. 
Automobile registrations across the 27-member bloc stood at 3.33 million in the first five months of 2020, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) announced.

Last summer's change of government played a decisive role in improving Greece's ranking on the global competitiveness chart by nine positions compared with 2019, according to the Swiss-based Institute for Management Development (IMD).

Greece's privatization agency (TAIPED) said on Tuesday that it has shortlisted seven investors for the purchase of a majority stake in the country's dominant gas supplier, DEPA Commercial.

The number of air passengers "at least halved" in March, when the novel coronavirus peaked, the 27-member-bloc's statistical office said on June 16.

Restrictive measures, to stem the spread of the COVID-19, affected the aviation sector deeply, Eurostat said.

In March, versus the same month 2019, the largest decline was seen in Italy by 85%, or 11.9 million.

Italian and Turkish submarines conducted a joint maritime drill in the Mediterranean, said Turkey's Defense Ministry on June 15. 

In a tweet, the ministry said the two navies have the most effective submarine force in the Mediterranean Sea and will continue to improve the interoperability with maritime training.

2% of all Bulgarians have been already infected with the novel coronavirus. In other words, the theory of achieving herd immunity is inapplicable in this country, the Chief State Health Inspector Associate Professor Angel Kunchev said.

The European Commission has rejected allegations that its officials tried to cover up the failure by Croatia's government to supervise its border police, after they were repeatedly accused of abusing migrants and refugees on the EU's external borders.