European Council: EU leaders’ meeting from tomorrow. Michel (President), “possible travel restrictions”. Support for COVAX

In his invitation letter to the European Council’s virtual meeting scheduled for tomorrow and Friday, President Charles Michel says “restrictive measures on non-essential travel may still be needed to contain the spread of the virus. Nevertheless, the flow of goods and services in the single market, as well as the role played by the green lanes, remain essential”. Also, from a global perspective, “demonstrating solidarity with our partners, including through COVAX, is key”, so that the vaccine can reach people in developing countries too. This is an issue that has recently been raised in a COMECE-Caritas Europe document. Then a glance at the future: “looking beyond our immediate priorities, I believe there is merit in starting to take stock of the lessons learned from our experience so far. We will therefore discuss how to build our resilience to future health threats, whatever form they may take”. Lastly, “I believe that we should continue our work to define a common approach to vaccination certificates”. The virtual European Council will start tomorrow at 3pm. The first day will be entirely devoted to the COVID response. The work will then continue on Friday, from 9am until midday.
Valentina Bombelli