Greece's foreign minister traveled to Vienna Friday for urgent talks with his European Union counterparts and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on military tensions with Turkey, as the Greek and Turkish navies continued a game of brinkmanship over eastern Mediterranean drilling rights. Nikos Dendias was due to meet Pompeo and Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, with whom he will also participate in the emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers held by video conference and chaired by the 27-country bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

(Bloomberg) -- The coronavirus pandemic has wiped out nearly half of the 12 million euro-area jobs created in the seven years since the last recession, in another sign of the enormous damage wreaked on the economy.Employment slumped by 4.9 million in first half of the year, almost all in the second quarter when the most stringent measures to contain the spread of the virus were in place.More declines are likely. Generous furlough programs across the 19-nation bloc have so far contained the fallout on the labor market from a record economic contraction, with a rise in unemployment that is more modest than in the U.S.Governments are now facing tough choices on how to wind down those programs though, as they weigh ballooning debt against the consequences of massive job losses for the economy.Even the possibility of lost wages can cause consumers to increase their savings, undermining the recovery. The European Central Bank predicts an increase in joblessness as not all people in short-time work schemes or temporary layoffs will return to their previous posts.What Bloomberg’s Economists Say“European governments have bet vast sums on a swift economic recovery drawing furloughed employees back to work. The latest data show that progress is slowing, raising the prospect of mass lay offs in the second half of the year.”-Jamie RushIn the U.S., with a similar population to the euro zone, employment is down more by than 12 million since the end of 2019.The U.K. reported this week that payrolls have plunged by more than 700,000 since March. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is planning to gradually phase out wage support there -- though pressure is mounting to extend it -- after spending 35 billion pounds ($46 billion) on the programs so far.With the virus disrupting global travel, airlines are among the companies planning the most wide-ranging job cuts. Deutsche Lufthansa AG has set a goal of slashing 22,000 full-time positions and warned that compulsory dismissals are likely. Air France-KLM is planning thousands of job cuts to secure government aid.German electronics retailer Ceconomy AG on Thursday announced plans to cut 3,500 jobs. A survey by the Ifo Institute showed this week that companies in Europe’s largest economy don’t expect business to normalize for another 11 months on average.Resurgence RiskThe euro-area economy as a whole shrank 12.1% in the second quarter, Eurostat said, confirming a preliminary reading from late July. That’s the deepest contraction on record, taking output back to 2005 levels.The Netherlands reported an 8.5% second-quarter slump on Friday, and Portugal said its GDP plunged 13.9%.Recent data have shown that a rebound is under way. Euro-area exports jumped 11.2% in June, according to a separate release.Still, a rise in new coronavirus infections is underscoring the risk of a setback. Consumers -- the chief drivers of the upturn so far -- may remain wary, prolonging the recovery for sectors such as hospitality, tourism and performing arts.The German Economy Ministry warned in its monthly report that the country’s recovery will only proceed slowly after big gains in activity in May and June as some export partners are still struggling to contain the virus.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

Indonesia must use the coronavirus pandemic to reboot Southeast Asia's biggest economy, President Joko Widodo said on Friday, as he proposed a $187 billion 2021 budget that includes spending more on healthcare, including vaccines, and infrastructure. Widodo made the remarks in his annual state of the union and budget speeches to parliament. Due to coronavirus precautions, less than half of the lawmakers were present for his address, with the rest watching online.

According to the U.N.’s 1951 Refugee Convention, a refugee is a person who has “a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” in his home country.When one thinks of countries where such fears are common, North Korea, China, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Laos, Ethiopia, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Libya, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Somalia, and Saudi Arabia might come to mind. France almost certainly would not, yet each year, several thousand migrants flee from there across the 20-mile English Channel in dinghies, seeking asylum in Britain.This has become a hot-button political issue in the U.K. The British public has expressed a desire for more tightly controlled borders in direct polling on the question, and such sentiment played a key part in the vote to leave the European Union. A YouGov survey carried out last Tuesday found that 27 percent of Britons have “no sympathy at all” and 22 percent of them have “not much sympathy” for the migrants who travel across the Channel.There is real appetite for swift and decisive government action. Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the journey these migrants make not only unnecessary but “stupid,” “dangerous,” and “criminal.” Johnson is right that the people who benefit most from the migration are people smugglers, who charge thousands of dollars for passage in often-unseaworthy vessels. He wants to put a stop to it, as does his home secretary, Priti Patel.Unfortunately, there are two major obstacles standing in their way. First, without the cooperation of France, it is difficult to stop migrants from sailing to Britain. Second, without major changes to the U.K.’s immigration laws, it is even more difficult to send them back.Both problems are complicated by Brexit. Indeed, much to Remainers’ delight, leaving the European Union might actually make it more difficult for Britain to deal with the problem in the short term. While Britain was part of the European bloc, asylum seekers who crossed the Channel could be sent back to their first country of entry under the Dublin Convention. Now, having left the EU, Britain will have to adapt its legal system as well as its immigration policy. In this regard, the Conservative immigration minister, Chris Philip, seems hopeful. He has promised a “new comprehensive action plan” and reassured the public that both Britain and France have “renewed and reaffirmed their absolute commitment to make sure this border is properly policed and this route is completely ended.” But he has yet to make the specific details of his master plan clear.The rights of migrants once they arrive on British soil are not insignificant. Lily Parrott, a lawyer representing migrants who come from France, has said that “whether the government likes it or not, under British and international law people are allowed to migrate for the purpose of seeking asylum — even if it means they have to use ‘irregular’ routes.” Johnson has said he intends to correct “the panoply of laws that an illegal immigrant has at his or her disposal that allow them to stay here.” No one should envy him that task.

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