The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Brussels on December 30, 2020. -
ISOPIX / SIPA
The coronavirus will once again be on the menu of European discussions.
Response to new variants, acceleration of vaccination, establishment of a common certificate: the Twenty-Seven will meet this Thursday evening for a new summit by videoconference devoted to the fight against the pandemic.
This 9th virtual meeting of EU heads of state and government on the health crisis will be held from 6 p.m.
At a time when several countries, such as Germany, are toughening their measures, Europeans remain keen to preserve the functioning of the internal market and in particular cross-border transport of goods.
The Germans also propose that tests and quarantines be required in the EU for travelers coming from areas particularly affected by variants.
Paris said it was in favor of health checks at intra-European borders.
On the eve of the summit, the ambassadors of the 27 reached an agreement on mutual recognition of antigenic tests, a measure which France defended in particular.
The issue of delayed vaccines
To detect coronavirus mutations, the European Commission urges member countries to increase sequencing, deeming the current level to be insufficient.
She also called on them to speed up vaccination, protecting 70% of the adult population by the end of the summer, and 80% of health workers and those over 80 by March.
The Twenty-Seven will therefore have to decide on these ambitious objectives, at a time when delays in the delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have led a country like Denmark to revise its ambitions for the first quarter down by 10%.
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