The last European Council of 2021 kicks off in Brussels. President Charles Michel launched the leaders’ summit at the Europa Building. Covid, energy, migration, the crisis with Belarus and the situation in Ukraine against the threats from Russia are on the agenda. The summit will last the whole day, until late at night.
The context is the decision taken by Prime Minister Mario Draghi to provide for the mandatory swab until 31 January to enter Italy from abroad and the quarantine for the unvaccinated. The Italian squeeze on travel has registered the “astonishment” of the EU. Concerns concerning both the procedural aspect and the merit of the restrictions. On the first front, the fact that the Italian government, as a regulation provides, did not inform Brussels 48 hours before the entry into force of the new measures to the Commission just did not go down. The fear is that the forward flight of a crucial country like Italy will lead other leaders to move without waiting for instructions from the EU. The method will be discussed at the EU Council.
Sassoli, travel measures? Actions should be coordinated in the EU
The European Union therefore underlines the need for greater coordination in the choices regarding the management of the Covid 19 emergency, especially in a phase in which the Omicron variable is growing. «We are very pleased to have launched the green pass in record time. At the same time we are convinced that all actions should be coordinated ”, explained the president of the Parliament David Sassoli, answering a question about the travel restrictions decided by Italy. On the measures chosen unilaterally by the individual countries, Sassoli observed: “This too is part of an EU that is unable to promptly address the issues that Covid submits to us”.
Premier Luxembourg, obligation to buffer wrong idea
Among the EU countries there are those who have already come out into the open, criticizing the Italian choice. “If we say that PCR tampons are more important than vaccines, people will no longer have any motivation to get vaccinated, I think it is a wrong idea”, highlighted the premier of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, before the start of the work to the European Council. Bettel has made it clear that he is opposed to Italy’s choice to impose the obligation to test for travel within the European Union also for the immunized. These are “choices of national competence” that “everyone can make, but I think it is very important to keep the vaccination certificate”, any alternative is “a false signal”, he concluded.