The Ministers for European Affairs of the EU Member States laid the groundwork, on Monday 18 January, for the informal discussion on Covid-19 that European leaders will hold on Thursday 21, when they will tackle the difficult issue of a vaccination passport.
The EU27 also prepared the ground by discussing the availability of vaccines, vaccination campaigns, screening and the worrying mutation of the virus, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs Ana Paula Zacarias said at a press conference.
For his part, on behalf of the European Commission, Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič reiterated his institution's intention to present on Tuesday a new communication related to Covid-19. “This communication will focus on ways to accelerate vaccination and vaccine supplies, intensify screening and sequencing to manage infection and new variants, ensure the functioning of the Internal market and demonstrate international leadership and solidarity with our neighbours”, he said.
The slow vaccine track
While seven vaccines are currently administered worldwide, only two - those of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna - are authorised at the European level (AstraZeneca's vaccine could be authorised at the end of January and Johnson & Johnson 's in February).
Member States, faced with delays in delivery, are vaccinating at different rates. In terms of the proportion of its population vaccinated, Denmark (2.9%) is in first place among the EU27. In terms of number of doses, it’s Italy (1.15 million) then Germany (1.05 million). “We need to bridge this gap between delivery and vaccination while remaining largely synchronised for health and Single market reasons”, said the Vice-President Šefčovič, stressing that “concrete vaccination targets for all Member States could prove useful”.
He added: “We also need to increase the supply of vaccines by working with manufacturers. In new manufacturing plants, this may mean obtaining agreements between manufacturers to reuse their companies and overcome obstacles in the supply chain”, he said at the end of his meeting with the European Ministers for European Affairs.
Vaccination certificate
The European ministers also mentioned the Greek Prime Minister's delicate proposal in favour of a “standardised” vaccination certificate, intended to give a boost to the tourism industry which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
In an interview on Dutch television, the President of the European Council had indicated that this was a “sensitive” issue within the EU27, but that this was no reason to “avoid” the debate. According to him, two questions need to be answered: do we agree to introduce such a certificate? And, if we are, when is it appropriate to do so?
At a press conference, both the Portuguese Secretary of State and the Vice-President of the European Commission stressed that the discussion was still in its early stages. “The Greek letter is one of the elements of this debate. There are different visions and we have to work on what we will do in the future”, summarised Ms Zacarias.
Maroš Šefčovič stressed that the ministerial discussion aimed to “create an adequate platform to collect and share electronic vaccination data” in order to evaluate the vaccination’s effectiveness and the European Vaccine Strategy. “I repeat that under no circumstances do we want to reach a situation where people who would not or could not be vaccinated are restricted in the exercise of their rights and freedoms”.
“Keeping Schengen open”
The Vice President also stressed that many countries had reiterated the need to keep “borders in Schengen open” and to protect traffic in the Internal market.
The subject of intra-Schengen borders will also be discussed by the leaders as countries like France wish to coordinate with their neighbours tightening entry conditions for other EU nationals.
However, a number of Member States already require a negative PCR test and/or mandatory quarantine for nationals from other Member States. Others, such as Belgium, also impose a test on their residents returning from red zones.
“What matters for coordination is to respect the treaties and to respect the prerogatives of the Single market”. “Schengen must work, the Internal market must work”, added the Vice-president, acknowledging that a “balance” is needed that takes into account the worse situation in some countries.
“The aim is to find a balance that will allow mobility in the EU to be preserved, while taking into account the propagation speed of the variants”, a source added. The Eastern States, for example, insisted Monday on preserving the mobility of road hauliers.
External borders will also be tackled on 21 January with the reinforcement of controls and better coordination for the testing of travellers from non-Member States.
The Commission criticised
At the midday press briefing, the Commission was also asked to explain the documents stolen from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and posted on the Dark Web, which show pressure on the agency to quickly authorise the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
“The European Commission has never exerted political pressure on the EMA regarding the assessment of vaccine effectiveness and safety. Speed is important, but not at the expense of safety and effectiveness”, said health spokesman Stefan De Keersmaecker. “It is true that there have been contacts between the Commission and the EMA, but these have mainly concerned the procedural aspects, i.e. how to speed up the procedure from an administrative point of view”.
Another sensitive issue is the trip to Portugal by several representatives of the European Commission, following which three Commissioners (Dombrovskis, Vestager and Ferreira) went into quarantine as a result of their contact with the Portuguese Finance Minister. According to the Commission and the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council, all security measures, including the wearing of masks, had been complied with. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean with Solenn Paulic)