The Council of the EU approved by written procedure on Friday 9 April additional funding from the EU 2021 budget of €121.5 million to address urgent needs related to the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12685/9).
Transfers of appropriations were approved to finance: – preparatory work for digital green certificates to facilitate free circulation during the pandemic; – strengthening the capacity of Member States to detect and monitor new variants of SARS-CoV-2 (‘sequencing’); – the development, evaluation and adaptation of new reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for each new emerging SARS-CoV-2 variant before they can be deployed, while ensuring sufficient screening capacity in the Member States; – monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 and its variants in wastewater; – continued work on the platform for the exchange of passenger locator forms.
The funds will be taken from the ‘Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve’, which is intended to help Member States and third countries in emergency situations. The European Parliament is expected to discuss the support next week, with a view to approval in plenary at the end of April.
In total, the Commission proposed €245.2 million in additional funding from the EU 2021 budget to support the initiatives, as well as €100 million for emerging needs related to Covid-19. In addition to the mobilisation of the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve, this expenditure will be covered by redeployments within the 2021 budget (approximately €7.5 million) and through the second budget corrigendum to the EU 2021 budget (€216.2 million). The draft amending budget still has to be adopted by the Council of the EU and the Parliament. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)