The EU struggles to confront the corona crisis that has upended its agenda. After a brief global focus, helping Member States became the main concern.
The new European Commission (EC) had just taken office in December 2019, when reports of a novel coronavirus in China’s Hubei province started to appear in the media. And, the EC was only just taking up steam, rolling out strategies and proposals when the SARS CoV-2 virus and its COVID-19 disease hit Northern Italy. While the von der Leyen Commission lived up to the promise to flesh out its strategic guidelines for the coming years, the new initiatives and priorities already started to look like from a distant era.
At first, attention began to shift in the field of research. After the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, the EC on 31 January mobilised its first EUR 10 million research package via the Horizon 2020 programme (SwissCore article). In early February, the EU started sending protective equipment to China in order to support the local health care response to the coronavirus. After this brief global focus, supporting the WHO’s and China’s efforts, the EU increasingly found itself confronted by the coronavirus in Europe itself.
While Italy’s struggle against the virus intensified, the EU’s political agenda was increasingly upended by the new situation. The European Council organised three video conference meetings in March, the first on 10 March, to discuss a coordinated response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Three topics started to dominate the discussions and actions: First, confronting the immediate challenges: Limiting the spread of the virus, supporting the medical response and keeping the single market open. Second, acquiring a better understanding of the novel virus, investing in research towards a vaccine, therapies and other technologies that could help addressing the pandemic. Third, keeping the affected Member States – and ultimately the EU – economically and financially afloat.
In Brussels, President Ursula von der Leyen is leading the EC’s coordinating response team at political level, and 12 March saw the launch of the Commission’s advisory panel on COVID-19 – a team of leading epidemiologists and virologists – chaired directly by President von der Leyen and co-chaired by Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides. The EC tries to avoid a situation where Member States would undertake uncoordinated measures that could undermine common efforts to fight the outbreak.
As ministers are unable to travel, the Council of the EU took steps to assure institutional continuity and switched to written procedure to adopt acts and video conferences for exchanges prior to the formal adoption of decisions. The European Parliament moved its meetings online as well. Digital tools are helping the EC to remain operational. Review panels take place via web conferencing, call deadlines are extended and force majeure can be invoked. Will the crisis delay the next generation of EU programmes, given the disruption that preparatory committees are facing? Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, in a Science|Business interview on 19 March, was still optimistic: “We need Horizon Europe to start with a timely launch on 1 January 2021”. However, she acknowledged that this will also depend on whether Member States will soon be able to agree on the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027. At the same time, she is convinced that the importance of research and innovation funding is evident in this time of emergency.
By late March, the EC’s investments in COVID-19 related research had reached around EUR 140 million, including EUR 80 million to support vaccine development by the German biotech company CureVac. German authorities had mentioned efforts by the U.S. government to acquire the company in the City of Tuebingen, because of its research towards a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. On 25 March, the EC published a Communication on protecting Europe’s strategic assets. The guidelines refer to similar situations as reported in the case of CureVac and the EC is calling on Member States to be vigilant and ensure that foreign direct investments (FDI) would not harm the EU’s health care capacity and to make full use of their FDI screening mechanisms.
The EC also ramped up innovation investment via the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), where EUR 45 million will be funded via Horizon 2020 and the same amount is expected to be invested by the partnering pharmaceutical industry. The European Innovation Council’s (EIC) Accelerator call of EUR 164 million drew a lot of interest with more than 1000 SMEs and start-ups applying. In the education area (see SwissCore article), the EC provides the Erasmus+ programme with more flexibility and in mid-March, EU education ministers discussed measures taken and challenges experienced in the Member States. As more and more schools and universities across Europe remain closed, distance learning is becoming the solution.
On 23 March, the EU Ministers of Finance agreed with the EC that Member States should be granted more fiscal flexibility to deal with the repercussions of the pandemic. Von der Leyen, in a statement on 28 March, announced that the EC will also propose changes to the EU’s next MFF, including a stimulus package that will help Member States to deal with the fall out of the crisis. Moreover, she referred to the work already in progress: “As a first step we are currently working on a full flexibilisation of existing funds – such as the structural funds.” In late March, the European Parliament and the Council approved the EC’s proposal for EUR 37 billion to provide liquidity to SMEs and to the health care sector via a Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative (CRII).
As March is drawing to a close, it becomes evident, that the socioeconomic hardships that is affecting more and more regions in Europe, cannot be tackled by the CRII alone, nor can they wait until a stimulus package under the next MFF will be in place. A coalition of nine countries, led by Italy, are now pushing for a new instrument of “Corona Bonds” that would allow Member States to contract common debt in order to keep interest rates bearable for the hard-hit countries. However, the European Council on 26 March was not able to find common ground yet and the question of how to tackle the unfolding socioeconomic crisis will continue to keep EU institutions busy.