EU leaders discuss next steps out of the COVID pandemic
In their latest video conference on coordinating the cross-border response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, EU Heads of State and Government, on Thursday, agreed that the utmost must be done to increase both vaccine manufacturing capacities and delivery certainties.
While the vaccine deliveries are set to increase significantly from the second quarter onwards as manufacturers ramp up their capacities and new vaccines become available, leaders agree that the situation remains serious, in particular as the new mutant strains from Britain, South Africa and Brazil are quickly spreading across the continent.
As everyone is looking to have as much of the vaccine as quickly as possible, a considerable level of effort is currently placed on helping manufacturers ramp up production capacities, while also further studying improving sequencing efforts to detect more contagious, and potentially deadly, mutations through the Commission’s new HERA Incubator. Meanwhile, according to a presentation shared by Commission President von der Leyen, the EU should be able to reach its vaccination goal of 70% of the population by the end of the summer unless there are any further unforeseen hiccups.
Moreover, a key concern for national capitals is having delivery certainty so as to be able to plan and structure their national rollout campaigns. In this regard, EU leaders want the Commission to put the maximum necessary pressure on pharma companies to stick to their agreed delivery schedules. According to EU officials involved in the summit, new Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi took an extremely hard line, proposing a stricter approach to companies that do not comply with their supply agreements, such as blocking their exports from the EU not only as long as they fall short of their schedules, but also for a certain period after.
Despite the slowly increasing vaccine drive in the EU’s 27 Member States, it is still not fast enough to respond and stop the rapidly spreading variants. As a result, despite promising just over four weeks ago not to do so, some ten EU countries now have some sort of border controls in place. Ranging from extensive testing requirements to travel bans, as was the case in early 2020, these border controls are again leading to significant obstacles to the smooth and efficient transport of goods across the EU’s internal borders. After yesterday’s summit, this “necessary evil,” however is set to remain for the time being.
Meanwhile, in anticipation of the arrival of the summer holidays and the expected pick up in vaccinated people, Heads of State and Government also discussed the prospects and potential EU-wide standardisation of so-called “vaccine passports.” Such passports, which preferably would be digital or app-based, should allow those who have already received their shot to resume some activities and, particularly, travel. Whereas all countries agree on the need for such “meaningful” passports, tourism-dependent countries such as Austria, Greece and Spain are pushing for their quick development, countries such Germany and France would prefer to further delay any decisions over concerns about discriminating between different population groups. In the end, a compromise prevailed on agreeing to begin development, but delaying its introduction by another couple of months.
In a view towards better preparing the Union for any future health scare or pandemic, EU leaders also had a high-level discussion on the Commission’s Health Union package to improve the EU27’s resilience through improving the EU’s preparedness, early warning and prevention systems as well as crisis management and response tools.
While it is unlikely that Member States will agree to shift any substantial level of health policy to the supranational level any time soon, as a lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic, they may agree to jointly organise the research and innovation into the production of vaccines and critical medical supplies, including through reshoring global medical supply chains.