Several European Heads of State or Government reiterated at the end of the European summit on Thursday 24 and Friday 25 June that they were concerned about the SARS-CoV-2 variant known as ‘Delta’, which is now in the majority in the United Kingdom.
In a series of conclusions adopted on Thursday evening, the EU-27 once again called for vigilance and coordination to deal with the variants. In particular the Delta variant, which is 40-60% more transmissible than Alpha, according to the ECDC (see EUROPE 12747/1).
“We must do everything to avoid a fourth wave”, insisted German Chancellor Angela Merkel, fearing the economic consequences of such a scenario.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called on the EU-27 to maintain harmonised health restrictions. “Measures such as mask wearing and social distancing must remain in place”, she insisted at a press conference.
The leaders also emphasised the need for further testing and the urgency of scaling up the sequencing of the virus (see EUROPE 12713/14).
In addition, several heads of state have called for greater coordination on opening borders to third countries (see other news). In this context, Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron called for all Member States to recognise the same vaccines, “those authorised by the EMA, which are effective against the variants”.
60% of adults vaccinated. On immunisation, the leaders obviously agreed to keep up the momentum. Several of them pointed out that only full vaccination seems to offer protection against the Delta variant.
“By the end of the week, we will have reached about 60% of adults in the EU who have received at least one dose”, said Ursula von der Leyen, adding that by then more than 424 million doses of vaccine will have been delivered through the Commission.
“We will then exceed our delivery target for the second quarter”, she highlighted.
New provisions. Ms von der Leyen also used the meeting to update the leaders on the lessons learned from the pandemic.
The EU-27 welcomed the Commission’s report and its suggestions on the subject (see EUROPE 12742/5): the creation of a new European system for collecting information on pandemics and the appointment of a “European chief epidemiologist”, for example.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, asserted that there was “a will to act quickly” in this respect. The objective, he said, would be “to come back to the European Council before the end of the year with this issue, to provide impetus and take more formal decisions on the subject”.
In their conclusions, the leaders called on the incoming Presidency to “take work forward in the EU Council” to protect the functioning of the internal market and strengthen the EU’s preparedness for possible new crises.
International solidarity. Leaders’ desire to vaccinate as much as possible extends to the whole world, in the name of “the EU’s commitment to international solidarity in the face of the pandemic”, according to the conclusions of the European Council, which calls for the intensification of global vaccine production and universal access, notably through Covax.
The Portuguese Prime minister, António Costa, highlighted that “the EU is the largest donor” to the €2.8 billion Covid-19 vaccine equity Facility for 92 low- and middle-income countries.
Emmanuel Macron stressed that “France will increase the number of doses it will give to 60 million by the end of the year” and the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, that Spain will also give “22.5 million doses in 2021, mainly to South American countries” (see EUROPE 12740/10, 12724/5).
To consult the conclusions: https://bit.ly/3xURIOs (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki and Aminata Niang with the editorial staff)