The European heads of state and government broke up last night without concrete agreements on energy and corona, their two most important topics. Energy will come back at the next summit, decisions about a new corona pass, which will allow free travel within Europe, should fall earlier.
In an hour-long discussion, it appeared that member states differ considerably about whether nuclear energy and gas can be labeled as ‘sustainable’. If that happens, billions will be released from large investors to invest in those energy sources.
France has been waging a strong nuclear lobby for months and wants to strike a deal with proponents of new gas-fired power stations. “We are working closely with France on this issue,” said new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. But there is also fierce resistance from countries that are afraid that investments in gas and nuclear will hinder the stormy development of really clean sources such as sun and wind. “We needed more time,” said Council President Charles Michel after the hour-long discussion.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called the difficult and sometimes fierce discussion ‘highly symbolic’, because it is up to the European Commission to make decisions. She should do that in the middle of next week, but already knows that she can’t please everyone anyway.
Different travel policies
Earlier in the day, it appeared that European leaders had failed to give a new future to the harmonized travel policy that saved millions of Europeans and for the travel industry and tourism sector last summer. The corona pass was a ‘success story’, according to Michel, but now the rapidly emerging omikron variant is throwing a spanner in the works.
To quell this new variant, Italy, Portugal and Greece decided in recent days on their own to require vaccinated travelers to have a recent PCR test before they are allowed to travel. According to De Croo – who replaced Prime Minister Rutte during the day – this undermines the corona certificate. According to Luxembourger Xavier Bettel, countries will soon no longer have an argument to convince people to get vaccinated.
At the summit, Italian Prime Minister and former ECB President Draghi was criticized in particular for failing to notify the unilateral measure in Brussels 48 hours in advance, as agreed. Draghi defended himself by saying that the omikron variant is not yet very widely distributed in Italy and that he wants to keep it that way to spare the care.
corona pass
Yesterday, leaders did not get much further than a joint conclusion that national measures should not ‘disproportionately hinder travel’. The European Commission is sticking to its proposal from last month. This means that the existing corona pass expires nine months after the first two injections, unless the holder provides a booster shot within that period. However, the Member States have to agree on this.
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss a thing from the stars.
#summit #argues #energy #corona #breaks #concrete #agreements