On Friday 6 March, EU Health Ministers discussed how best to respond to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. While France, Germany and the Czech Republic have defended their decision to apply protectionist measures by limiting their exports, this is not the conclusion reached by other Member States.
Upon her arrival, the Belgian Minister said she intended to express her dissatisfaction “in a polite manner” during the ministerial round table. And that is what she did, pointing out that the decisions of the three countries concerned had the effect of suspending Belgium’s supplies. This came as a surprise to Lithuania, which did not seem to be aware of the implementation of such restrictions and was concerned about the consequences for its territory, which does not produce any protective equipment.
The Commission has also expressed strong reservations about such behaviour. “There are legal grounds that make such measures possible. But this kind of measure has to be notified, proportionate and they carry a risk of undermining our collective capacity to answer this crisis”, said Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič.
According to World Health Organisation Regional Director Hans Kluge, global demand for protective masks is estimated at 18.9 million units per month. For gloves, he spoke of 76 million units and 1.6 million goggles.
Germany, France and the Czech Republic in the spotlight
Belgian Minister Maggie de Block has targeted Germany and the Czech Republic in particular, which last week announced a temporary freeze on their exports of protective medical equipment (masks, gloves, suits, etc.)
The German Minister defended himself: “We didn’t say it was not allowed to export, but you have to ask for it and have a good reason. That’s for the official authority to decide. If we are talking about a neighbouring European country or if there is evidence from a scientific organisation, it is more likely that we will say yes. But it is a case-by-case decision”, said Jens Spahn. He also placed great emphasis on the particular situation in Germany, where “the epidemic has taken hold”, in contrast to other Member States which are still in the containment phase.
France, for its part, explained that it had adopted a decree allowing the State to requisition equipment in order, according to the new French minister, Olivier Veran, to have a comprehensive view of the available material. And this in a context where the price of this material is rising and some materials are being resold on the secondary market.
Asked about the need for European solidarity, the Czech Minister for his part answered quite naturally, “that is why a joint public procurement was launched” (see EUROPE 12437/1).
Hundred times more cases than 3 weeks ago
The purpose of the extraordinary ministerial meeting was to provide political guidance to efforts to combat the virus. An exercise which had already been carried out on 13 February, at a first extraordinary Health Council, and which had led to the adoption of conclusions (see EUROPE 12425/1).
But why should the exercise be repeated? “We feel that there could be an improvement in terms of information sharing”, a diplomatic source said before the meeting. Moreover, in the last 3 weeks, the number of cases has increased 100-fold in Europe. The Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union stressed that “we have moved from a preparation phase to a phase of prevention and treatment”.
According to a latest count from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Economic Area (and the United Kingdom) has 5,544 cases of infection and 159 deaths, including 148 in Italy and 7 in France.
The European Measures Tour
The round table was therefore an opportunity to discuss the measures taken at national and European level to contain the virus.
In terms of updates, Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides indicated that the joint procurement of personal protective equipment is proceeding well. She expects to receive offers by Monday 9 March and “tangible results” in the coming weeks. She also indicated that she had heard the call from some Member States for further such initiatives, in particular for the joint purchase of respirators.
Mr Lenarčič, for his part, stressed that funding for research into vaccines, treatments, diagnostic tests and preventive measures would be increased to a total of €47.5 million. This is because it is not possible to reuse the SARS vaccine, as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has pointed out.
“The first trials are not expected to take place before April or May”, added EMA Director General Guido Rasi.
For the Member States, several Ministers, such as the Czech Adam Vojtěch, pointed out that the coronavirus reveals our dependence on non-Member States (see EUROPE 12440/6). Poland, for its part, called for the coronavirus to be declared a “case of force majeure”, a situation that would allow the release of solidarity funds.
EU institutions closely affected by the virus
At the same time, a new employee of the EU Council, the institution where the Ministers met, has tested positive for the coronavirus. This brings the number of infected persons working in the European institutions to three (see EUROPE 12439/6).
The individual, from the EU Council’s justice and home affairs department, is said to have been in contact with more people than the case diagnosed in mid-week, notes an internal letter to the institution and seen by EUROPE.
The Croatian Ambassador to the EU, Irena Andrassy, was among the contacts, which is why the meeting of Ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on 6 March was cancelled. Ms Andrassy has decided to isolate herself.
On Friday, the Croatian Presidency of the EU Council had not taken a decision on how the Council’s internal work would proceed from next week. If the Croatian Presidency cannot ensure the continuity of certain work, the next six-month Presidency – in this case Germany – could take over.
The internal mail, however, calls for not giving in to panic, reminding that links tracing to identify potentially infected persons only concerns those who have spent “at least 15 minutes at a distance of less than 2 metres with the person concerned”.
It should be remembered that the subject of coronavirus is on the agenda of many meetings in the coming weeks, including the Trade Council on Thursday 12 March. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean, with help from Hermine Donceel and Pascal Hansens)