U.S. tourists vaccinated against COVID-19 will be able to visit the European Union in the coming months, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said and France 24 reported. Signaling a major change in EU policy as vaccinations step up worldwide, von der Leyen gave no timetable, but the Times said that the new rules could be in place by this summer. "The Americans, as far as I can see, use European Medicines Agency-approved vaccines," she said. "This will enable free movement and travel to the European Union.

The U.K. has imposed sanctions on 22 people accused of serious corruption in Russia, South Africa and four other nations in the first use of a new tool to fight corrupt activities globally, Sky News reported.

Italian Premier Mario Draghi is presenting a 222.1 billion euro ($268.6 billion) coronavirus recovery plan to Parliament on Monday, aiming to not only bounce back from the pandemic but enact “epochal” reforms to address structural problems that long predated COVID-19, the Associated Press reported.

An Irish Government Minister has suggested it will be possible for taxes owed by struggling small businesses to be written down in new “examinership-lite” proposals that could be enacted before the summer, the Irish Times reported.

British retail sales jumped last month before a partial lifting of coronavirus restrictions, suggesting an economic rebound is underway, but official data also showed record peacetime government borrowing, Reuters reported.

The U.K. scaled back its bond sale plans by more than expected after the budget deficit undershot official forecasts during a pandemic-blighted year that ravaged the public finances, Bloomberg News reported.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi is seeking to restart Italy’s economy through a plan based on about 200 billion euros ($241 billion) of European Union funding, with most of the cash allocated to digitalization and transitioning to green technologies, according to a draft seen by Bloomberg.

Jupiter Fund Management Plc and Invesco Asset Management are set to take over Codere SA as part of a deal to restructure the gaming firm’s debt, Bloomberg News reported. The Madrid-based company reached an agreement with a group of creditors, also including PGIM Ltd.

German chancellor Angela Merkel rejected criticism of her lobbying for Wirecard in China months before it collapsed, telling lawmakers she had no reason to suspect the firm of criminality as she sought to help it do business there, Reuters reported.

The number of U.K. businesses in significant financial distress jumped the most in at least seven years last quarter, with firms across all sectors seeing their situation deteriorate, Bloomberg News reported. There are 723,000 companies facing serious problems, according to research by intelligence provider Begbies Traynor published Thursday. That’s a 15% increase from the end of last year, and the biggest quarterly increase since it began publishing the data in 2014. From a year ago, the number has climbed 42%.