Member States’ ambassadors to the EU made progress over the coordination of national measures to combat Covid-19 and clarified certain details of the EU Council draft recommendation, during a discussion in the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) on Wednesday 7 October.
This item was ultimately scheduled for 7 October and not just for 9 October, as mistakenly indicated in our EUROPE edition 12575/2, even though ambassadors will resume these discussions on 9 October to allow the European Affairs Ministers, who are convening on 13 October in the General Affairs Council, to adopt the text by qualified majority.
On Wednesday morning, several components submitted by the German Presidency of the EU Council were validated by the ambassadors: they used the regional level data criteria (number of cases, number of tests, test positivity rate) to determine risk areas, which were then classified using colour coding of green, orange, red and grey. The ECDC is responsible for publishing weekly maps based on these indicators.
They stressed that restrictions should never be placed on green zones, according to a diplomat. The general information rule for the public would remain at 24 hours, if possible, but for governments it would be increased to 48 hours where possible in order that administrations were not caught short.
Finally, the EU-27 recognised that more time would be needed to agree on coordinating issues such as quarantine or testing measures that would be imposed upon returning from certain areas. These aspects will therefore have to be discussed further and will form part of the agreement sought at the General Affairs Council on 13 October.
In particular, efforts should continue on agreeing a similar duration for quarantine measures, for example, or the mutual recognition of tests between Member States. Work on the format of the common passenger location document should also be continued. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)