The health issue has again been put on the agenda of the European Council to be held on Thursday 21 and Friday 22 October in Brussels. However, it is no longer a priority at this stage.
“For the first time, Covid-19 will no longer be a central issue”, “the urgency has faded a bit”, conceded several diplomatic sources on the eve of the meeting.
In the capitals and on the Commission side, there is more preparation to discuss soaring energy prices and the rule of law (see other news).
The pandemic, however, “is not over yet and figures are on the rise in several Member States”, insisted Council President Charles Michel in his letter of invitation to the heads of state and government.
The World Health Organization said on Tuesday 19 October that Europe was the only region in the world where the number of cases had increased in the last week.
Leaders will therefore be invited to take stock of the epidemiological situation and the continuing hesitation and disinformation about vaccines.
Free movement. The issue of restrictions on free movement should also be discussed again.
In a draft of the Council’s conclusions dated 18 October - of which EUROPE has obtained a copy - the revision of the two Council recommendations on non-essential travel is notably called for (see EUROPE 12739/6).
Leaders should also call on the Commission to speed up its work on the mutual recognition of ‘Covid certificates’ with third countries.
In addition, there may be calls for a review of the criteria used to assess the epidemiological situation in different states. This includes a call to rely on hospitalisation rates rather than infection rates.
International solidarity. As in June (see EUROPE 12749/4), leaders will reiterate their commitment to sharing vaccines with third country applicants. However, they are not expected to propose any concrete action in this area.
In their conclusions, the EU27 should only call for the “rapid removal of obstacles hampering the global roll-out of vaccines” and invite the Commission to continue its direct dialogue with manufacturers in this regard.
At this stage, only 30 million doses have been delivered by the EU, its financial institutions and member states (Team Europe) out of the more than 300 million promised, according to data from the WHO, WTO and International Monetary Fund.
Health Union. “We must also take action to ensure we are better prepared for pandemics in the future”, the President of the European Council finally stressed in his letter.
According to the draft conclusions, the leaders should essentially echo the positions put forward last week by their health ministers in Ljubljana (see EUROPE 12810/5).
See the draft conclusions dated 18 October: https://bit.ly/3B0jJVD (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki with editorial staff)