Poland’s prime minister said Wednesday that the presidential election must be held in May despite the coronavirus pandemic to meet the requirements of the constitution. Mateusz Morawiecki said, however, that the May 10 election date may be pushed back by a week or two.  “Constitutional experts say that the election is also possible on successive dates: May 17 or May 23,” Morawiecki said.  “We will be taking the decision in the nearest future,” he said.  The ruling conservative Law and Justice party is pushing for the May vote by postal ballot only, driven by the fact that its candidate, President Andrzej Duda, is leading in opinion polls. It argues voting by mail is safe. But it has also empowered the parliamentary speaker to alter the May 10 date. The opposition wants the vote pushed back by a year or two, for social health reasons. All its candidates are trailing in opinion polls behind Duda. With less than two weeks to the vote, the bill formally regulating procedures for the vote still hasn’t been adopted in parliament, raising questions about whether the election can be held as planned.  
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British people love to talk about the weather. Never more so than when they’re locked in their houses, it seems. With perfect irony, the sun hasn’t stopped shining since the coronavirus lockdown began on March 23 – and everyone’s talking about it. It’s been unseasonably warm, with temperatures in London topping 25 degrees Celsius. For those with gardens or with easy access to the countryside, the fine weather has been a perfect antidote to the mind-spinning news headlines; nature, at its finest in spring, has been a tonic for many. For those living in cities, particularly in high-rise apartments, the sunshine has only underlined the claustrophobia of confinement. Staff work at a the COVID-19 testing facility at Ikea near the Wembley stadium in London, April 29, 2020.Across Britain, the skies have never been clearer. I live not far from Gatwick, London’s second biggest airport, and normally the sky is crossed with vapor trails. But there are just a few high cirrus clouds amid the deep blue. There are far fewer cars on the roads too. Instead, families cheerfully cycle past, enjoying their daily hour of exercise. The air smells cleaner. You can hear more birdsong. There are countless stories of wildlife slowly re-colonizing towns and cities as humans enter their own hibernation.All these might seem like trivial observations in the face of a devastating global pandemic. But it’s inevitable that people will look for positives after such disruption to their lives. And it has a lot of people talking about what kind of country we all want to emerge from this crisis.Millions of people are working from home. Can commuting be cut down to save carbon emissions and allow workers to spend more time with families? Are those international business meetings really necessary when it’s all being done by video link? With scientists warning repeatedly that climate change is an even bigger imminent threat to humanity, can we afford to go back to life as it was before? There are other changes to life on a more personal level. Out of concern, I’ve been in touch with family and friends whom I haven’t spoken to for many years. We’ve set up a weekly video chat with close family. Everyone is talking about the parties and reunions we’ll have when this is all over. After years of relationships being conducted through social media, the world is craving human company. Maybe we’ll value those close bonds even more in the post-coronavirus world. And in Britain, which has been torn apart by Brexit in recent years, many people crave some kind of healing. There are clouds on the horizon. Another Brexit deadline looms at the end of the year as the transition period ends, with the threat of even more economic disruption. And it’s quite possible, perhaps justifiable, that the world will rush back to its old ways after the lockdown to recover the vast economic losses. But in my neighborhood, and in communities across Britain and beyond, the same question is being raised: what sort of world do we want to emerge when this is all over? 
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The coronavirus crisis risks becoming an existential crisis for the European Union, say diplomats and analysts, as the EU struggles to coordinate a financial response to the pandemic. 
 
Last week, the EU’s national leaders struck an interim agreement on a recovery deal with an emergency fund of about $581 million (a half-billion euros), which the hardest hit member states can tap into for immediate assistance.  
 
But the wrangling over how to cope with the economic impact of the pandemic is far from over, and the overall $2 trillion-plus economic package mooted last week by the national leaders includes the budget costs of the EU itself for the next seven years.  
 
In fact, no final numbers, aside from the emergency fund, have yet been agreed upon, according to analysts. Members states already were at loggerheads over money before the coronavirus appeared, with sharp arguments between them about how to make up for the loss of Britain’s financial contribution to the EU.   
 
The emergency relief package came after an ill-natured squabble and warnings by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte that the EU project itself was in jeopardy unless the wealthier northern states help bail out their poorer southern neighbors. It also has left unresolved whether aid from the emergency fund to countries like Italy and Spain will be in the form of loans, which must be paid back, or grants, which won’t.Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte delivers his message to the Lower House of Chambers of the Italian Parliament, in Rome, April 21, 2020.Another key issue is whether the eurozone countries will eventually have to mutualize their debt by issuing jointly so-called “coronabonds” to meet health-care costs and mitigate the impact of a deep economic slump, one that could rival the Great Depression almost a century ago. 
 
As the behind-scenes quarreling continues over money, euro-skepticism, which before the pandemic appeared to be ebbing, is rising once again. It’s being fueled by southern Europeans smarting over what they see as an absence of solidarity by the more affluent nations, reminiscent, they say, of the debt crisis following the 2008 financial crash that nearly tore the EU apart. The pandemic is opening up the wounds of that crisis, which also saw a sharp split between the north and south. 
 
“The coronavirus pandemic could well be the ultimate acid test of its resilience as a community based on solidarity and common values,” according to Stefan Lehne of Carnegie Europe, a think tank based in Brussels. In a posted commentary, he wrote: “The mindset of everybody for itself, which is so tempting under the acute stress of the crisis, must be countered by stepping up cooperation and mutual assistance among the member states. Otherwise, the EU will be in great danger.” 
 
A poll published last found 40 percent of Italians would now support exiting the EU and scrapping the euro as its official currency. A further 6.1 percent would support just quitting the EU, while 7.3 percent support remaining in the bloc but replacing the euro with the lira. Just 41.7 percent agreed the status quo should be maintained. 
 
Last month another poll found 88 percent of Italians felt let down by their European neighbors in terms of health-care support for the country’s overwhelmed hospitals. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen apologized to Italians earlier this month for the lack of solidarity shown to Italy, offering “a heartfelt apology” during a speech to the European Parliament. “Too many were not there on time when Italy needed a helping hand at the very beginning,” she said.A man walks along Naples promenade, Italy, Monday, April 27, 2020. Italian factories, construction sites and wholesale supply businesses can resume activity as soon as they put safety measures into place aimed at containing contagion with COVID-19.On Tuesday, Italy became the first country to apply for financial aid from an emergency fund of $581 million. Others will be making their applications shortly, including Spain. But the emergency funds on offer are likely to fall short of what is needed, admits Klaus Regling, director-general of the European Stability Mechanism, an EU agency that provides financial assistance, in the form of loans, to eurozone countries. 
 
He told Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera: “I would say that for the second phase we need at least another €500 billion [$ half-trillion] from the European institutions, but it could be more.” He has warned that economic recovery from the virus will be “long and costly.” Italy—along with France and Spain—are demanding another $1 trillion be earmarked for emergency aid. 
 
So far, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands are resisting the idea of joint debt issuance, which would combine securities from different European countries. But Conte and other south European leaders have been doubling down on the demand for pooling debt, mainly underwritten by the EU’s northern states. 
 
A former adviser to France’s Emmanuel Macron, economist Shahin Vallée says greater financial and political integration will be the only way out of the impasse, which could include pooling taxes. Otherwise, only the countries with strong balance sheets able to subsidize their industries and households will recover quickly, further adding to the north-south divide.  
 
Vallée acknowledges, though, there is little political will to go down this route. The economic recovery plan so far “is incomplete and unbalanced, and it is planting the seed of profound divergence between member states,” he has warned. 
 
Others worry that further mutualizing eurozone debt and integrating more will allow Brussels to demand even more power over the fiscal and political affairs of member states, its due as the loan broker. That, in turn, could fuel the ire of the continent’s populist nationalists, who want nation states less hedged in by the EU.  
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Ready or not, Greece is opening back up. But it is not happening all at once, as the government plans to lift coronavirus restrictions in phases, keeping a ban on religious services to contain new outbreaks of COVID. The plan has infuriated the Greek Orthodox Church and it is now demanding preference over businesses like hair and nail salons.The standoff comes as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announces a gradual easing of draconian lockdown measures imposed here since early March.Government officials tell VOA, schools and small-size businesses will be among the first to open next week. Church doors will also be unlocked but only to allow followers to enter and pray on their own, not in large numbers and not for religious services.The country’s archbishop has sent a stern letter to the prime minister, pressing him to reconsider.But on Tuesday, the Church’s spokesperson, the Metropolitan of Nafpaktos, Hierotheos, accused the government of staging what he called a coup against the country’s religious authority. “What do they really think the Church is?” he asked in front of reporters Tuesday. “Do they consider it like any other supermarket or union or nail and hair salon?”The Church, he says, has been a guiding force for the nation and part of Greek tradition for more than 200 years.It’s unlikely the prime minister will back down from his plans, aides say.A beggar sits in an empty Ermou street in front of Kapnikarea church during lockdown measures by the Greek government to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Athens, April 21, 2020.The country’s senior council of prelates, meantime, is scheduling a crisis meeting later this week. It wants to see churches open across the nation soon, in order hold belated Easter services in May – services it has suspended as part of  nationwide efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.The controversy is fueling a debate in Greece on whether the state should reconsider its close ties with the Greek Orthodox Church.  Commentator Nikos Vlavianos, known for his left-wing views, argues for a separation. He calls this type of intervention absurd and says and it reminds the world that, in the 21st Century, church and state are not separated in Greece.About 90 percent of Greeks identify as Orthodox Christians, although it is unclear how many of them regularly attend church.     The Orthodox Church is deeply intertwined with the society of Greece, predating the Greek state by some 1,500 years. Throughout history, attempts to separate the two have met resistance, with many, many Greeks citing the Church’s key role in preserving the Orthodox faith during 400 years of Ottoman rule.  
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The U.K. held a minute’s silence Tuesday for all front-line workers who have died from the coronavirus, as official figures showed a new weekly high in the total number of deaths in England and Wales.
As clocks struck 11 a.m., senior political leaders, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, joined hospital and nursing home staff in observing the silence. London’s subway and bus networks came to a halt as workers honored colleagues, and Westminster Abbey paid tribute to “the sacrifice of health and care workers who have lost their lives in the service of others.”
On Monday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said 82 workers in the National Health Service and 16 social care staff had died so far. Other workers, including a number of bus drivers in London, have also died after testing positive for COVID-19.  
The minute’s silence had been campaigned for by the Unison union, the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal of College of Nursing.
Donna Kinnair, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said it was “important to pay tribute” and urged all front-line workers be “afforded the greatest protection.” The government has been criticized for not having sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment.
“An even greater task now remains — to stop more joining the tragic number of those who have died,” she said.  
Johnson, who returned to work on Monday after recovering from COVID-19, tweeted that the country “will not forget you.”
Johnson has said he won’t risk a second peak in the virus by relaxing the lockdown restrictions too soon. The country, he said, was at the point of “maximum risk” even though it was coming out of the “first phase of this conflict.”  
Ministers have been reluctant to talk about easing the restrictions, which are due to last until May 7, and the government has set five tests before contemplating such a move, including “a sustained and consistent” fall in the daily death rate and clear evidence that the rate of infection has decreased.
Though England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales moved into lockdown together, some divergences are emerging. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said her government was recommending the use of face coverings in limited circumstances, such as when using public transport or buying food. The U.K. government hasn’t made such a recommendation.  
The Office for National Statistics also said Tuesday that 22,351 people in England and Wales died in the week ending April 17, the highest since comparable records began in 1993. The total was more than double the rolling five-year average.
In its analysis of death certificates, which take longer to compile than deaths recorded in hospitals, the statistics agency said the coronavirus was mentioned as one of the causes of death in 8,758 cases, nearly 40% of the total.
It also said that 4,316 deaths involving COVID-19 had been registered up to April 17 outside of hospitals with 3,096 in care homes. The equivalent figure for hospital deaths over the period is 14,796.  
The daily figures presented by the government only show the number of people dying in U.K. hospitals, including those in Scotland and Northern Ireland. As of Monday, 21,092 people had died in U.K. hospitals. 
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