On Friday 23 July, the EU ministers responsible for European Affairs took stock of the strategies to be adopted to strengthen the Union’s resilience in the face of crises requiring a response by the EU27, particularly for health crises.
The discussions reportedly focussed on “how to improve the European policies to strengthen resilience but also how to improve coordination and cooperation among Member States”, said the Slovenian State Secretary Gašper Dovžan, who led the informal meeting organised by the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council.
Several ministers welcomed the discussion at a time when the EU is still grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic and facing an increase in infections, mainly due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant (see EUROPE 12764/14).
At this stage, all ministers agreed that the “fastest and best measure” to deal with the ongoing crisis was “mass vaccination”, Mr Dovžan told a press conference.
According to figures released the day before by the European Commission, to date 68.4% of adults in the EU have received at least a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. A total of 436.6 million vaccinations were recorded.
“The European choice in terms of vaccines, as we can see today, was a choice of solidarity and a winning choice, since we vaccinate more in the EU than our American friends”, stressed the French Secretary of State, Clément Beaune, insisting on the importance of “collective protection” in the EU.
What changes in the long term?
Furthermore, the different delegations indicated what they expected from the European legislators in the longer term. The Slovenian minister told the press that the need to “strengthen the existing structures” was emphasised.
For the Finnish Minister, Tytti Tuppurainen, for example, “the EU should develop its resilience in three areas specifically”, namely: security of supply, border management in the event of a health emergency and decision-making processes, she detailed on the sidelines of the meeting.
On the first point, she considered that stocks should be built up at European level for critical products - a solution that the EU27 does not yet seem to be considering for medicines (see EUROPE 12741/8).
On the second, the minister suggested that provisions for health emergencies be added to the Schengen Area regulation, to better prepare for such emergencies “in regard to the free movement and our border management”. Finally, on the third point, she called for decision-making processes to be “more flexible and rapid”, for a better reaction in the event of a crisis. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)