The EU27 heads of state or government, meeting in the European Council, discussed at length on the morning of Thursday 16 December, the fight against Covid-19 within the European Union and, beyond that, through international cooperation, the response to Omicron, the highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 variant.
Speeding up vaccination and booster shots and coordinating travel restrictions were the watchwords of the leaders, all of whom were alarmed by the speed of the spread of the latest variant, even though its mortality rate remains low.
“Rolling out vaccination to all and deploying booster doses are crucial and urgent”, say the European Council conclusions, which remain unchanged from the draft text detailed in our coverage (see EUROPE 12854/5).
“We take the situation seriously and we want to continue to cooperate”, stressed the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, at the end of the meeting. For the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, “the only answer is vaccination from the age of five”. She referred to a time frame of “six months at the latest” for the administration of booster shots after the second dose.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša also said it was important to “fight disinformation that fuels reluctance towards vaccination and represents a huge health risk for everyone” - an aspect also mentioned in the conclusions. In addition, “the same coordinated approach to therapeutic treatments as for vaccines” should be adopted, including grouped purchases, he said.
“The one answer to Omicron right now is acceleration of our vaccination programs with particular emphasis on booster shots. In Greece, we were one of the first European countries to open booster shots to the entire population and we are very happy with how the programme is progressing”, said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, referring to a “battle against time”.
The Taoiseach, Michael Martin, reported that “leaders have significant concerns about the capacity of this variant to create pressure on our societies and our health systems”. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, proudly declared: “We’ve started with child vaccination. We must also continue with the boosters”.
At midday on Thursday, the Commission announced that it had reached an agreement with Moderna to accelerate the delivery of its experimental messenger RNA vaccine to those EU countries with a short-term need, in particular Germany, for which Moderna has agreed to bring forward the delivery of 10 million doses in December. A further 25 million doses will follow for this country in the first quarter of 2022.
On the same day, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the emergency use of Pfizer’s anti-Covid-19 medicine - a medicine “not yet authorised in the EU” but which “can be used to treat adults with Covid-19 who do not require supplemental oxygen and are at increased risk of developing a severe form of the illness”.
The validity period of Covid certificates to be clarified
EU leaders have not made a decision on how they can coordinate their national measures against Covid-19, including the issue of the use of EU Digital COVID Certificates. However, they accepted the principle of a period of validity for these tools, which the Commission will be responsible for specifying in a delegated act.
The text of the European Council’s conclusions stresses the need for a “coordinated approach on the duration of validity” of these certificates launched this summer in the EU to facilitate the free movement of Europeans and it “takes note” of this forthcoming delegated act.
At the end of November, the Commission proposed, in a recommendation of 25 November (see EUROPE 12840/1), that this period be extended to nine months after the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. But Member States have yet to decide on this revised draft recommendation, which also covers broader aspects such as the new ECDC mapping and the new ‘colour’ zones based on the status of the person rather than the area of origin.
In its conclusions, the European Council calls for the rapid adoption of this tool and the recommendation on non-essential travel to the EU. The Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) will discuss the two revised texts early next week.
Several countries expressed concern, on Thursday, about the piecemeal implementation of EU rules under the effect of the Omicron variant, with four countries now requiring, on arrival, PCR tests for people with the certificate.
“If countries start to move forward again in a piecemeal fashion by imposing other rules, we are putting the Digital COVID Certificate at risk”, said Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo, for whom this tool is “a good European solution that facilitates and secures the movement of citizens within the EU”. And warned: “If each country goes back to acting separately, we won’t make it”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said, after the summit, that France would not impose any tests on EU travellers with a certificate, in contrast to the measures the French government has just imposed on travellers from the UK, justified by the spread of the Omicron variant.
“What Italy, Portugal or Ireland are doing is generally accepted in the sense that there is room for manoeuvre” for each country, commented Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. “At the same time, we recognise that there is a need for coordinated action, particularly with regard to the Covid-19 certificate. The Commission’s proposal would help to return to greater coordination”.
International cooperation the only way
In its conclusions, the European Council states that “the pandemic will only be overcome” through “global cooperation based on trust and mutual assistance”. It “commends Botswana and South Africa” for their transparency and genomic sequencing of the Omicron variant.
The EU27 expressed their determination to accelerate the sharing of doses via Covax or by Member States bilaterally with third countries in need, “in particular Africa”, as well as the means for effective delivery and vaccination (see EUROPE 12850/22).
For German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, it is important to ensure that the rest of the world is vaccinated, with Covax playing an important role.
The G20 and the EU have set a goal of getting 70% of the world’s population vaccinated by mid-2022.
See the European Council conclusions: https://bit.ly/3IZ8ORm (Original version in French by Aminata Niang, Solenn Paulic and the editorial staff)