The leaders of the EU27, meeting in the European Council, will again discuss Covid-19 on Thursday 16 December in Brussels, addressing the internal and external aspects of the issue, this time in the light of the Omicron variant.
“COVID will very much remain at the centre of our attention”, said European Council President Charles Michel in his letter of invitation to the EU27.
Epidemiological situation and vaccination in the EU. Internally, the Heads of State or Government will take stock of the position to be adopted in the face of the SARS-CoV-2 variant. The spread of this Omicron variant could “most likely” result in “additional hospitalisations and fatalities, further to those already expected from previous forecasts that consider only the Delta variant”, warned the Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Andrea Ammon, on Wednesday 15 December.
In response, leaders are expected to emphasise the need for further progress on vaccine campaigns, several diplomatic sources confirmed ahead of the meeting.
A draft of the findings argues that the appearance of the variant “reiterates the vital importance of vaccination in the fight against the pandemic”. The paper also argues that “rolling out vaccination to all and deploying booster doses are crucial”, and that it “remains key” to “overcome vaccine hesitancy, including by addressing disinformation”.
It is not out of the question that some Member States will address the issue of compulsory vaccination, an EU official said. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said she considered the discussion timely.
On Wednesday morning, the majority of MEPs called on the EU27 to take further steps to achieve better vaccination coverage. However, the leaders will limit themselves to a discussion on Thursday. “No new collective decision is expected”, confirmed an EU source.
Coordination/free movement. EU leaders should reiterate the importance of coordinating their national measures against Covid-19 in order, among other things, not to “undermine the functioning of the single market” or free movement, and to take their decisions on the basis of objective criteria. While Member States should not condemn the requirements of some countries that ask for a negative PCR test in addition to the EU digital Covid certificate in order to enter their territory (as Italy now does, but also Portugal or Ireland), the European Council should call for measures that “are not disproportionate”.
It could also call for the rapid adoption of the revised EU Council Recommendation on free movement and the revised EU Council Recommendation on non-essential travel to the EU, although several countries have recently expressed their wish to take their time to better assess the Omicron variant (see EUROPE 12851/16).
At this stage, the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council has not put forward a new date for the issue to be discussed by the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU. The issue is of concern to some countries, such as Luxembourg, which believes that adding PCR tests devalues certificates. The Commission, for its part, noted on Wednesday that “if further restrictions for certificate holders are possible, if necessary and proportionate and if it is to meet a health need”, “proportionality is crucial”.
International cooperation. EU leaders should reiterate the EU’s determination to play its part in “achieving global immunisation” and their willingness to step up their “support to countries most in need”, through the sharing of doses, including through Covax, and their efficient delivery (see EUROPE 12850/22).
“The distribution of vaccines to third countries, especially through Covax, is a very important concern”, an EU source said on Wednesday.
The latest draft conclusions seen by EUROPE, dated 13 December, include a paragraph to soften the stigma of southern African countries being subjected to travel restrictions, much to the chagrin of the countries concerned, ECOWAS and the African Union. The Heads of State and Government should “commend Botswana and South Africa for being so transparent, detecting, sequencing and reporting the variant so quickly”. They should also underline the importance of increasing the global genomic sequencing capacity.
See the draft conclusions: https://bit.ly/3pYPkUg (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki, Aminata Niang and Solenn Paulic with the editorial staff)