European Council, summit on Covid-19

2021-01-21T18:43:18.810Z

A videoconference of the members of the European Council began at 6 pm. EU leaders discuss coordinating the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the large-scale spread of vaccines and using all available tools to limit the spread of the virus. They share best practices on the measures taken and discuss their prospects for the coming weeks. As for vaccines, the European Commission will take stock of their diffusion and how to ensure future production increases and equal access to vaccines. The leaders also share their experiences regarding the implementation of vaccination campaigns. For Charles Michel, President of the European Council: "Our top priority is to speed up vaccination across the EU". Leaders also discuss the desirability of adopting a common approach to vaccination certification within the EU. They also address the issue of cooperation with third countries in relation to vaccines, in the EU neighborhood and beyond. The delays in the delivery of the vaccine The delays in the delivery of the vaccine doses contracted by the European Commission on behalf of the EU states 'will be absorbed by mid-February, from next week deliveries will return to 100% of the doses scheduled for each week'. The European Commission has indicated this. It is possible that this reassurance is sufficient to allay the complaints about Pfizer / BioNtech's delays. It will be known this evening at the end of the European Council. At the center of the discussion, more than the type of common certification that certifies the intake of the anti Covid-19 vaccine, a perspective on which there is a surge among governments, at the center of the confrontation between the heads of state and government, the search for a common way to deal with the mobility of people within the EU in order to hinder the spread of Covid-19 variants. Today the European Commission indicated that 'better coordination is needed for the management of cross-border travel' and that 'any restriction on freedom of movement must be proportionate and non-discriminatory: the blanket closure of borders makes no sense ". 'trend of the economy at the center of the attention of the 27 although the prospects for the euro area and for the entire continent are highly uncertain. The ECB believes that the recovery will come in all probability in the second half of the year and not in the first just started due to the extension of the second wave. The commissioner for the economy Gentiloni indicated that the economic situation continues to be extremely uncertain even if we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Even if it is not known how far this light is. mass vaccination has just begun and needs time to unfold: the economy hangs on it. In the meantime, however, there are variants of the virus and the certainty that vaccination does not diminish the need to maintain caution and a certain degree of restriction on mobility. In recent days, decisions have been made for further tightening in various countries, starting with Germany. The European Commission froze optimism with President von der Leyen who indicated that the coming weeks and months will still be 'hard' for both citizens and businesses. In Berlin the unilateral closure of the borders was evoked if other countries went in the opposite direction to that of generalized caution in the face of the variants of Covid-19. Attention to the 'paths' of the British and South African variants could be a parameter to define the perimeter of freedom of movement. The Netherlands has a curfew from 8.30 pm, France has been brought forward from Saturday to 6 pm. Brussels is worried because it is difficult to keep the internal market intact if each state decides on its own as it did at the beginning of the first pandemic wave. Belgian Prime Minister De Croo has proposed the temporary stop of non-essential travel. Berlin wants close coordination of mandatory tests for cross-border travelers: the ambassadors of the 27 EU states have agreed on mutual recognition of the results (both PCR and antigenic). The delays in the production and consequently in the distribution of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine have cast more than a shadow on the transparency of the contracts defined by the EU with pharmaceutical companies, an issue on which the European Parliament is battling. Italy has announced a court action against Pfizer. Austria, Greece, the Czech Republic and Denmark have sent a letter to EU President Charles Michel asking for the drug agency (EMA) to approve the vaccines faster. This request is in contrast with what the Commission has repeatedly indicated that it has never put pressure on the EMA for the simple reason that this is not the line of the European Union. Believe it is another matter. Greece has opened the front of the standardized vaccination certificate in the EU with the main objective of taking precautions for the tourist season of 2021, a very sensitive issue for many countries, starting with Italy. There are many opposites including France, a country in which the subject of mandatory vaccination is almost a taboo (in the sense that it is not wanted). There are those who oppose it for reasons of 'privacy', however vaccination certificates exist for yellow fever, malaria or cholera. The problem here is that the vaccination certificate does not reflect any guarantee for the moment that those who have been vaccinated will not be able to infect. The Commission will present a proposal on the basis of today's debate later this month.