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Four days after the start of the extraordinary European summit in Brussels, European Union leaders reached an agreement on a 'coronavirus' recovery plan. This plan is designed to address, on a European scale, the forecasted serious economic crisis. The European Union is going to launch a collective loan of 750 billion euro for the first time in its history. This could be an important step towards more solidarity between European countries, but the conditions imposed are challenging.

At a time when governments and the European Commission are financing the pharmaceutical industry to the tune of billions of euros, there is no guarantee that every citizen will have access to the coronavirus vaccine. To make it accessible to all, the Confederal Group of the European United Left and 10 left-wing parties are launching a "Right2Cure" campaign.

Inspired by Donald Trump, the far right around the world has adopted the same motto: "It's because of China that we have this coronavirus. China must pay." After an initial joint campaign against the UN pact on migration, the far-right network is now carrying out coordinated attacks against China.

The campaign is a unique collaboration between left-wing parties from all over Europe and the Group of the European United Left (GUE/NGL) in the European Parliament. "In order to win against this pandemic, it is vital that a vaccine or medicine is freely available to all", says Marc Botenga, MEP for the PTB-PVDA. "The coronavirus vaccine is being developed today with billions of euros of public funds, of taxpayers' money. We cannot allow pharmaceutical companies, who had thus far refused to invest in this vaccine, to now take ownership of the vaccine and decide on the price and supply."

The chairman of the FEB (Federation of Enterprises in Belgium) has been dreaming of a Social Pact for a long time. A dream from before the Covid-19 crisis. He's not the only one. For Georges-Louis Bouchez, the chairman of the MR (Mouvement réformateur, French-speaking liberal party), "it is time to conclude a new social contract". At the trade union level too, some are calling for a Social Pact. This caused a strong controversy at the top of the FGTB (socialist trade union federation). But what would this Pact be made of?

More and more voices are calling for the removal of the statues of Leopold II from the public space. Why? What did he do in the Congo? And what is the link between colonization and racism today? Explanations.

Who has to pay for this crisis? The heroes of everyday life, the healthcare workers, the workers in the distribution, at the post office... or the richest? In our country, the PTB-PVDA started the debate with the proposal of a "corona tax", but the issue is of global importance. French economists feel that a wealth tax is justified in times of crisis. It has already been applied.

Thousands of scientists worldwide are searching for medicines and vaccines against Covid-19. Big Pharma is also pulling out all the stops in order to make the most of the pandemic that is now dominating our lives. However, it is the responsibility of the large pharmaceutical companies that this treatment is not yet available today.

Almost exactly one year after the elections, a new poll was conducted in Flanders (the northern part of Belgium. The PTB-PVDA continues to grow: from 2.8 % in 2014 to 5.6 % last year and 8.2 % according to the latest survey [conducted only in Flanders - note: in Brussels and Wallonia, in the various elections of 2019, the PTB-PVDA had obtained between 12.3 and 14.6%].

Over the last five years, the Lufthansa Group has made a profit of EUR 9 billion, the majority of which went into the pockets of shareholders such as German billionaire Heinz Hermann Thiele. But now that the airline is in trouble, it is asking for 290 million euros in public aid to save Brussels Airlines. The community is supposed to put its money where its mouth is and pack the shareholders' wallet. This is an outdated model for the PTB-PVDA, who advocates a publicly-owned airline.

In Belgium, since 11 May, contact tracing has been in place. Contacts of infected persons will have to remain in home quarantine for 14 days if they are called by a tracer. With the government's current proposal, many people will suffer a loss of salary of 30% during their quarantine. For many families, this is another potential financial loss after the one caused by the lockdown. Sofie Merckx, MP of the PTB-PVDA, proposes that the salary would be maintained in case of quarantine: "To fight the coronavirus, we need to do our utmost to ensure that as many people as possible can follow the advice of contact tracers. That means everyone should be able to keep his income."

Speech by Peter Mertens, chairman of the PTB-PVDA, at the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the victory over fascism, 8 May 2020, Breendonk