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Schmallenberg virus (SBV), an insect‐transmitted orthobunyavirus that induces severe foetal malformation in calves and lambs, was detected for the first time in late summer 2011 in Central Europe. Thereafter, the virus spread rapidly across the continent causing a large epidemic in the ruminant population. In 2019, detection of virus was again reported more frequently in Germany. From March to November, infections of viremic adult animals were noticed. In September, SBV genome was also detected in newborn lambs. Altogether, affected species included cattle, sheep, a goat and a fallow deer. M‐segment sequences were generated from viruses detected in viremic cattle and compared to viral sequences from previous years. The genome of viruses detected in the blood of acutely infected adult cattle and sheep, which represent the circulating SBV strains, seems very stable over the course of nine years and in various European countries. The nucleotide similarities of these viruses are as high as 99.4%–100%. The renewed SBV circulation in 2019 in the country, in which the virus was first detected in 2011 and where it circulated again in 2014 and 2016, suggests the establishment of an enzootic status in Central Europe with regular larger waves in a cycle of around 3 years. Therefore, it has to be anticipated that SBV will re‐emerge at similar intervals in future, and hence, it represents a constant threat for the continent's ruminant population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive intra-Asian economic integration has been accompanied by very little institution building. This paper considers whether Asia needs new institutions by drawing lessons from the EU's supranational integration sequence and EFTA's intergovernmental sequence. Sequencing theory is presented and used to structure historical narrative of Europe's and Asia's sequencing and then used to draw implications of the analysis for future efforts to bring regional institutions to Asia.JEL Classification: F15, F55 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]