As part of the EU's support for citizens facing travel problems due to the coronavirus, an Austrian plane, co-financed by the EU, landed in Vienna early in the morning of Tuesday 17 March, repatriating some 290 EU citizens from Marrakech, the Commission announced the same day.
The day before, Austria had activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to request consular assistance to support the repatriation of its nationals and other EU citizens.
On Tuesday 17 March, Ursula von der Leyen announced via Twitter that a second request had been made by this Member State on the same day for the repatriation of further European citizens from Morocco. The EU will support this request, she reassured.
The Commission will also be able to finance up to 90% of Member States' purchases of personal protective equipment, under a proposal announced on Monday by Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič.
The European Medical Corps, which provides rapid medical assistance in the event of health emergencies, could also be mobilised, if requested. But no request for assistance has yet been addressed to the Commission, said the institution's chief spokesman, Eric Mamer, on Tuesday. "Any personnel to be deployed will depend on national capabilities", he said.
Created in 2016 after the Ebola crisis in West Africa, the European Medical Corps is made up of medical staff from the European reserve (i.e. currently pre-committed capabilities from 11 countries out of the 24 participants) and two mobile laboratories. The deployment is coordinated by the Commission's Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)