The leaders of the European Union once again showed their unity and determination, on Tuesday 17 March, to fight on all fronts the global coronavirus pandemic, whose main epicentre is now Europe, but without forgetting the foundations of the European project.
We are advancing “in close ranks”, “we are sticking together” to deal with a “serious and grave crisis”, said the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, announcing that the European summit next weekend will be held by videoconference for the third time.
We are facing an “external shock” that is hitting the whole world and creating a situation that we have never faced before, said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
“We are a European family – nobody will be left alone and nobody will have to act alone”, promised the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli.
The European Council has endorsed all the emergency measures in the security, health and economic fields that the European Commission has recently tabled (see EUROPE 12446/1, 12447/1).
The Commission’s proposal to co-ordinate travel restrictions to the EU over a period of 30 days for 26 Member States, plus potentially Ireland and the United Kingdom and the four non-Member States associated with the Schengen area for the free movement of persons (see EUROPE 12447/6) was thus endorsed.
This proposal has received “a lot of support”, Mrs von der Leyen said. This proposal seeks to filter out non-essential arrivals of non-Member State nationals in the EU, but will not cover doctors, nurses, long-term residents in the EU or other specific profiles, or returning EU citizens.
It is now up to the Member States to apply these restrictions, with the Commission playing only a coordinating role in this area. France has been implementing the measure since Tuesday at 12:00 pm. According to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany will act immediately.
Portugal is applying the measure with derogations. “As of 24 hours from now [Wednesday], all international flights from the EU and non-Member States to any national airport will be suspended”, said Prime Minister António Costa. Exceptions exist for non-Member States with a large number of Portuguese (Portuguese-speaking countries, Canada, United States, Venezuela, South Africa).
However, Ms von der Leyen acknowledged that Ireland, linked to its common travel area with the United Kingdom and located outside the Schengen area, had not certified that it would apply this measure. The Irish Government has just indicated that it will look at the measure, in consultation with the United Kingdom, as reported in the Irish media.
The EU Civil Protection Mechanism will also be used to repatriate Europeans wishing to return to the Union. The measure, already activated by Austria (see EUROPE 12448/8), was welcomed by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
Facilitating essential travel within the Schengen area
The Member States also “broadly” approved the guidelines published the previous day by the Commission to improve road traffic flow within the Schengen area, even though they were the subject of “intense discussions”, Ms von der Leyen said.
According to her, it is “absolutely crucial” to unblock certain situations in the internal market that delay the traffic of lorries carrying goods or prevent citizens “from going home”. To this end, the President of the Commission explained that the proposal to create special expressways for vehicles transporting goods or medical equipment had been very successful.
On Tuesday, two other Member States – Spain and Portugal – notified the re-establishment of checks at the internal borders of the Schengen area. Twelve member countries have therefore reinstated controls: 10 EU countries (Spain, Portugal, Austria, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Denmark and Lithuania) and two non-Member States (Switzerland and Norway).
At the summit, the specific issue of frontier workers was raised, with Ms von der Leyen citing the difficulties of “Luxembourg”, whose economy depends to a large extent on this category of workers.
Health: Commission launches new common public procurement markets
My first priority is to “be mobilised for the health of citizens”, stressed Charles Michel.
To this end, the President of the European Commission pointed out that new common public procurement markets had just been launched to ensure more attractive purchasing conditions for the participating countries. “Yesterday, we launched a public market for respirators and today for gloves and masks,” she said. Bids are expected in the next six days, after which contracts can be immediately awarded by all 24 participating States.
Mrs von der Leyen also clarified her comments about the German company CureVac bringing a vaccine to market “before autumn”, when most experts expect a year and a half. “The procedures are often long and bureaucratic, but we have to concentrate on the essentials”, she said, referring to assurances received from the German company, which will benefit from a European guarantee of up to €80 million (see EUROPE 12447/1).
While Europe counted more than 60,000 cases of contamination and 2,700 deaths as of Tuesday 17 March, the three countries most affected – Italy, Spain and France – are applying generalised containment of the population, a measure that will soon be in force elsewhere, notably in Belgium starting Wednesday.
The Netherlands, on the other hand, is banking on “the development of herd immunity” by letting the least vulnerable people catch the virus. While the Commission has refused to comment on this announcement, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Europe Department does not recommend such an approach. “There is not enough evidence that herd immunity works”, said Dorit Nitzan, WHO’s Health Emergency Coordinator, after a meeting with the 53 members of the organisation. “Contain and remove, that’s what we need”, added Richard Pebody, WHO Respiratory Pathology Officer.
Finally, Mrs von der Leyen welcomed the fact that the economic package – flexibility in fiscal and State Aid rules (see EUROPE 12448/4), mobilisation of the EU budget and the EIB – had been “unanimously” supported by the Twenty-Seven.
The Eurogroup, which will now meet weekly by videoconference (see EUROPE 12448/3), has been given the task of monitoring the implementation of economic measures taken at European and national level.
See the conclusions of the President of the European Council: http://bit.ly/2x2DiBx (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic, Sophie Petitjean, Mathieu Bion and Lionel Changeur)