May 8, 2020 |
Today the Commission invited Schengen Member States and Schengen Associated States to extend the temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU for another 30 days, until 15 June. While some EU and Schengen Associated States are taking preliminary steps towards easing the measures for fighting the spread of the pandemic, the situation remains fragile both in Europe and worldwide. This calls for continued measures at the external borders to reduce the risk of the disease spreading through travel to the EU. The lifting of travel restrictions should be phased: as underlined in the Joint European Roadmap on lifting containment measures, internal border controls will need to start being lifted gradually and in a coordinated manner before restrictions at the external borders can be relaxed in a second stage.
Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, said: “The overall objective of limiting the spread of coronavirus via reduced social interaction remains. Despite progress in many European countries, the situation worldwide is very fragile. It is imperative that any action taken is gradual, with different measures being lifted in different phases.”
Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson underlined: “We need a phased and coordinated approach. Restoring the normal functioning of the Schengen area of free movement is our first objective as soon as the health situation allows it. Restrictions on free movement and internal border controls will need to be lifted gradually before we can remove restrictions at the external borders and guarantee access to the EU for non-EU residents for non-essential travel.”
The travel restriction, as well as the invitation to extend it, applies to the ‘EU+ area’, which includes all Schengen Member States (including Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, and Romania) and the 4 Schengen Associated States (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland) – 30 countries in total. The Commission calls for a continued coordinated approach to the prolongation, as action at the external borders can only be effective if implemented by all EU and Schengen States at all borders, with the same end date and in a uniform manner.
The Commission will continue to assist Member States in implementing the restriction on non-essential travel to the EU, including through regular videoconference meetings with Home Affairs Ministers. Any further prolongation of the travel restriction beyond 15 June 2020 would need to be assessed again, based on the evolution of the epidemiological situation.
Background
The Commission invited Heads of State or Government on 16 March 2020 to introduce a temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU for an initial period of 30 days. On 8 April, the Commission called for prolonging the travel restriction until 15 May. All EU Member States (except Ireland) and non-EU Schengen countries have since taken national decisions to implement and prolong this travel restriction.
To assist Member States, the Commission presented on 30 March 2020 guidance on how to implement the temporary travel restriction, facilitate repatriations from across the world, and deal with those compelled to stay in the EU longer than they are authorised to as a result of travel restrictions.
The travel restriction does not apply to EU citizens, citizens of non-EU Schengen countries and their family members, and non-EU nationals who are long-term residents in the EU for the purpose of returning home. In addition, to limit to the minimum the impact of the restriction on the functioning of our societies, Member States should not apply the restrictions to specific categories of travellers with an essential function or need. Essential staff, such as doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, researchers and experts helping to cope with the coronavirus, as well as persons carrying goods, frontier workers and seasonal agricultural workers, should also continue to be allowed to enter the EU.
Compliments of the European Commission.

Together with our members & friends we are creating a Video series of first-hand accounts of the Pandemic’s impact, both personally & professionally.
We invite you to join us today for a first-hand look at the impact of the global shutdown following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak – Today we are featuring H.E. Olof Skoog, the Ambassador of the European Union to the United Nations a partner of the EACCNY.
The questions we asked our members for this series are:1) What are some challenges you, personally and your organization have faced?2) What are some of the most surprising (positive, innovative) responses/changes you have witnessed?3) How will this experience change us going forward, as a society and in terms of how we do business?

EACCNY has its finger on the pulse of how this worldwide pandemic is effecting companies and organizations on both sides of the Atlantic. EACC is where Americans & Europeans connect to do business.
Stay tuned for more on this series! We hope you enjoy these short vignettes our members and friends of the EACC created to share their experience.

Together with our members we are creating a Video series of first-hand accounts of the Pandemic’s impact, both personally & professionally.
We invite you to join us today for a first-hand look at the impact of the global shutdown following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak – Today we are featuring Simon M. Kaye, CEO Jaguar Freight a EACCNY member.
The questions we asked our members for this series are:1) What are some challenges you, personally and your organization have faced?2) What are some of the most surprising (positive, innovative) responses/changes you have witnessed?3) How will this experience change us going forward, as a society and in terms of how we do business?

EACCNY has its finger on the pulse of how this worldwide pandemic is effecting companies and organizations on both sides of the Atlantic. EACC is where Americans & Europeans connect to do business.
Stay tuned for more on this series! We hope you enjoy these short vignettes our members and friends of the EACC created to share their experience.

May 11, 2020 |
The COVID-19 crisis is now widely seen as the greatest economic calamity since the Great Depression. In January, the IMF expected global income to grow 3 percent; it is now forecast to fall 3 percent, much worse than during the Great Recession of 2008-09. Behind this dire statistic is an even grimmer possibility: if past pandemics are any guide, the toll on poorer and vulnerable segments of society will be several times worse. Indeed, a recent poll of top economists found that the vast majority felt the COVID-19 pandemic will worsen inequality, in part through its disproportionate impact on low-skilled workers.
Our evidence supports concerns about the adverse distributional impacts of pandemics. We find that major epidemics in this century have raised income inequality and hurt employment prospects of those with only a basic education while scarcely affecting employment of people with advanced degrees.
CONTINUE READING…
AUTHORS:
• Davide Furceri, Prakash Loungani, and Jonathan D. Ostry
Compliments of the IMF.

May 8, 2020 | Blog post by Josep Borrell.
On 9 May, we mark Europe Day. The 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration offers a chance to reflect on what European integration means and on the EU’s role in the world. I want to use this blog post to do this from a personal angle, to set out why Europe as an idea and political project is worth defending.
Like for others, my personal journey has driven my political convictions.
My interest and commitment to the European idea – personally and professionally – date back to when I was awarded a scholarship at the age of 17, still under the Franco regime, for an essay on the prospects of Spain’s accession to what was then called the ‘European Common Market’. For me and my generation in Spain, living in a military dictatorship, Europe was a symbol of hope, progress, democracy, freedom and solidarity.
The first times I ever crossed my country’s border – something that was not as easy back then as it became later on – was for student summer jobs: working on a farm in Denmark, in the construction sector in Germany, in the hospitality business in Britain and harvesting grapes in France. Travelling across Europe gave me new perspectives, new freedoms and the ability to pursue new opportunities. 
After my studies at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, in the summer of 1969, I worked on a kibbutz and travelled all over Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, from the Golan Heights to Eilat. This was my first contact with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It served as a reminder of the tragic nature of human history and the need to escape from history. Also this is part of what motivates us Europeans.
The history of Europe is one of fighting over borders. Millions have died as a result. Borders are therefore the scars of history. The genius of the European integration idea was to say, we stop fighting over where the borders are and instead focus on making them irrelevant. In fact, the EU has become the world champions in eliminating borders. Unfortunately, there are today in many ways more walls again in the wider world than when the Berlin wall fell.
It is striking and painful to currently live in a Europe where borders are very relevant again, for they have been closed to people for over a month. There were and remain compelling reasons to do this. But I long for us all to return to open borders, to travel across Europe again, as soon as the circumstances allow.
The 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration is the moment to go back to first principles of what Europe is all about: peace and democracy, transcending history, international solidarity, open borders. We need to think and act big. As Schuman put it in his Declaration:
“World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it.”
Schuman was not thinking small. Nor was he a prisoner of old ways of thinking. The project he launched has been spectacularly successful. It enabled an exhausted Europe in ruins to believe in itself and rise again. Growing from 6 members to 12, 15 to 27 today. From a coal and steel community to a common market, to a political Union with the ambition of becoming a true geo-political actor.
Yes, there are many reasons to be critical. We have to prove that solidarity is not an empty word and that we are serious about a Europe that protects. The first duty of government is to protect and the EU must be central to the fight against the coronavirus and the recovery. After a shaky start, the EU is now mobilised on all fronts. At the end of this crisis, the European ideal will be judged by citizens according to their answer to this simple question: “Did the European Union protect me?”.
In essence, Europe has to address three simultaneous challenges. First, we have to put health care as part of our security thinking and approach to European sovereignty. Second, to avert the collapse of our economies, we have to come up with a powerful, coordinated and imaginative response. And third, Europe has to lead a coordinated world effort to fight the pandemic. It is obvious that countries acting alone will not succeed.
For weeks now our governments have deliberately slowed down our economies to keep us safe. The severe economic effects are not the consequence of a health crisis, but of the actions taken to prevent one. This has never happened before in history. These unprecedented circumstances are affecting countries to a very different degree, which risks generating tensions inside Europe and around the world. The buzzwords today are health security, resilience, strategic autonomy, multilateralism and green recovery.
Today’s world is very different from the time of the Schuman Declaration. We have come a long way in 70 years, overcoming many crises.
How will the EU look in 70 years? This will depend on the decisions we take today.
As someone who has lived through European history with all its ups and downs, I am convinced we should think as big and as creatively as Schuman – and act in that spirit. 
Compliments of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States.

May 8, 2020 |
1. On 23 April 2020, Leaders endorsed the agreement by the Eurogroup in inclusive format of 9 April 2020 on the three important safety nets for workers, businesses and sovereigns, amounting to a package worth EUR 540 billion, and called for their operationalisation by the 1st June 2020. The Leaders also agreed to work towards establishing a Recovery Fund and tasked the Commission to analyse the exact needs and to urgently come up with a proposal that is commensurate with the challenge. The Eurogroup in an inclusive format will continue to closely monitor the economic situation and prepare the ground for a robust recovery.
2. The Eurogroup welcomes the efforts that are well underway in the Council on the SURE proposal, and in the EIB Governing Bodies on the establishment of the pan-European guarantee fund, to support European workers and businesses, and confirms the agreement to establish the ESM Pandemic Crisis Support for sovereigns.
3. We agreed today on the features and standardized terms of the Pandemic Crisis Support, available to all euro area Member States for amounts of 2% of the respective Member’s GDP as of end-2019, as a benchmark, to support domestic financing of direct and indirect healthcare, cure and prevention-related costs due to the COVID-19 crisis. We also welcomed the institutions’ preliminary assessments on debt sustainability, financing needs, financial stability risks, as well as on the eligibility criteria for accessing this instrument. We agree with the view of the institutions that all ESM Members meet the eligibility requirements to receive support under the Pandemic Crisis Support. Subject to the completion of national procedures, we expect the ESM Board of Governors to adopt a resolution confirming this well before the 1st of June 2020. The provisions of the ESM Treaty will be followed.
4. The Eurogroup recalls that the only requirement to access the credit line will be that euro area Member States requesting support would commit to use this credit line to support domestic financing of direct and indirect healthcare, cure and prevention related costs due to the COVID 19 crisis. This commitment will be detailed in an individual Pandemic Response Plan to be prepared on the basis of a template, for any facility granted under the Pandemic Crisis Support.
5. We agree that monitoring and surveillance should be commensurate with the nature of the symmetric shock caused by COVID-19 and proportionate with the features and use of the Pandemic Crisis Support, in line with the EU framework[1] and the relevant ESM guideline. We welcome the Commission’s intention to apply a streamlined reporting and monitoring framework, limited to the commitments detailed in the Pandemic Response Plan, as outlined in the letter of 7 May of Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni addressed to the President of the Eurogroup. The ESM will also implement its Early Warning System to ensure timely repayment of the Pandemic Crisis Support.
6. We agree with the ESM proposal on the common financial terms and conditions applicable to any facility granted under the Pandemic Crisis Support. This includes a maximum average maturity of 10 years for the loans and favourable pricing modalities adapted to the exceptional nature of this crisis[2].
7. The Eurogroup confirms that the Pandemic Crisis Support is unique given the widespread impact of the COVID-19 crisis on all ESM Members. Requests for Pandemic Crisis Support may be made until 31 December 2022. Upon a proposal by the ESM Managing Director, the ESM Board of Governors may decide by mutual agreement to adjust this deadline. The Managing Director proposal would be based on objective evidence on the course of the crisis. Afterwards, euro area Member States would remain committed to strengthen economic and financial fundamentals, consistent with the EU economic and fiscal coordination and surveillance frameworks, including any flexibility applied by the competent EU institutions.
8. The initial availability period for each facility granted under the Pandemic Crisis Support will be 12 months, which could be extended twice for 6 months, in accordance with the standard ESM framework for precautionary instruments.
9. Following a request under the Pandemic Crisis Support, institutions are expected to confirm the assessments at the shortest possible notice, and prepare, together with the authorities, the individual Pandemic Response Plan, based on the agreed template.
10. Subject to the completion of national procedures in respect of each request, the ESM governing bodies will approve the individual Pandemic Response Plans, individual decisions to grant financial assistance and the financial assistance facility agreements, in accordance with Article 13 of the ESM Treaty.
Compliments of the European Council.

May 8, 2020 | By John Bruton, and previously published in the Irish Independent 
The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) of Germany this week attacked one of the fundaments of the European Union, the primacy of Union law.  It is long settled practice that, in its field of operation, EU law has superiority over national law.
 The FCC of Germany has also rejected the primacy of decisions of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), over decisions of national courts, on the meaning of EU Treaties.
The FCC has furthermore attacked the independence from the politics of any one country, of the European Central Bank.  It instructed the German Bundestag and  the German government to ensure that the ECB did a new analysis of its bond buying programme in light of the principles it laid down. Failing that, the ECB bond buying in question should not be applied in Germany, it said.
 This is wrong. It is not the prerogative of any one EU country to instruct the ECB!
 I remember how, at the Dublin EU Summit of 1996 which I chaired, Helmut Kohl defended the independence of the soon to be created European Central Bank . He did not want member states to be able to pressurize it to pursue loose monetary policies.
 Now, A German Court wants a German government to interfere with the independence of the ECB, something that would have horrified Helmut Kohl.
The decision that  the German FCC announced this week was about the bond purchasing programme of the European Central Bank instituted by Mario Draghi to support the Euro in the wake of the 2008/10 economic crisis.  This bond buying programme was known as the PSPP.
The ECJ had found this PSPP programme to be legal under the EU Treaties, in a decision on 11 December 2018. The German Court this week flatly rejected this ECJ decision. It described it  as “untenable”.
It condemned it in the following terms;
“In its Judgment of 11 December 2018, the ECJ  held that the Decision of the ECB Governing Council on the PSPP and its subsequent amendments were still within the ambit of the ECB’s competences.
 This view manifestly fails to give consideration to the importance and scope of the principle of proportionality (Art. 5(1) second sentence and Art. 5(4) TEU) – which applies to the division of competences between the European Union and the Member States – and is simply untenable from a methodological perspective given that it completely disregards the actual economic policy effects of the programme”
 The German Court added that the PSPP bond buying programme of the ECB is “ultra vires (beyond its powers) and not to be applied in Germany” and instructed the German authorities to this effect.
 It even criticised the methodology of the ECJ in reaching its decisions. A remark designed to annoy.
The EU can only work if its laws are interpreted consistently in all 27 EU member states. If a German Supreme Court can overrule the ECJ interpretation of the EU Treaties, so also could the Hungarian Supreme Court or the Polish Supreme Court.
 Soon we could  have 27 different interpretations of what EU law meant, and the EU Single Market would  quickly disappear!
The German Court did say that it was not making a decision about the more recent bond buying programme, introduced in the wake of the Covid 19 outbreak, and which is supporting countries like Italy and Spain, hardest hit by Covid 19.
 But the logic of the German FCC’s  decision this week clearly implies that it would also find against that programme too when, as is likely, the same German litigants bring a case against the new programme before the German courts.
A major showdown is now inevitable, at a time of maximum vulnerability for the European economy.
A robust answer must be given by the EU institutions to the German Court.
The Inter governmental Conference, including the then German government, that finalised the Lisbon Treaty in 2007 said, when it promulgated that Treaty ;
“In accordance with the well settled case law of the EU Court of Justice, the Treaties and the law adopted by the Union on the basis of the Treaties, have primacy over the laws of Member States, under the conditions laid down by the said case law”.
The European Heads of Government, including Angela Merkel, must urgently reaffirm that declaration, and declare their unequivocal support for the ECJ decision of December 2018, and for the independence of the ECB from the authorities of Germany, and from those of  any other EU state.
By undermining the ECJ, the German Court is providing a precedent that could be used by semi authoritarian governments in some EU states, who do not like some EU decisions on matters like the rule of law , academic freedom, or media pluralism.
To be fair, the doctrine underlying the German Basic Law is one which has democracy, and respect for democratic procedures, at its centre. The German Federal Constitutional Court has frequently defended the democratic prerogatives of the German Federal State.
 It has, however, failed adequately to recognise that the EU is a democracy too.
 It has an elected Parliament, to which the ECB accounts for itself.
 That is where German concerns should be pursued, by political means, and not by mischief making court cases, decided by judges who set themselves above the European Union.
Compliments of John Bruton, the former EU Ambassador to the US and former Taoiseach.

May 6, 2020 |
Fiscal policies have provided large emergency lifelines to people and firms during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also invaluable to increase a country’s readiness to respond to a crisis and to help with the recovery and beyond.
When the Great Lockdown finally ends, a strong economic recovery that benefits everyone will depend on improved social safety nets and broad-based fiscal support. This includes public investment in health care, infrastructure, and climate change. Countries with high debt levels will have to carefully balance short-term fiscal support for the recovery stage with long-term debt sustainability.
Countries need to invest $20 trillion more over the next 20 years in climate change and other SDGs.
The new Fiscal Monitor helps policymakers choose how to invest for the future in a fiscally prudent way, adopt well-planned discretionary policies to stimulate demand, and enhance social safety nets and unemployment benefits.
Enhance social safety nets for people
The pandemic has shown how vulnerable people are and served as a wakeup call for action.
In response, countries have temporarily extended unemployment benefits and expanded social safety nets to varying degrees. For example, the United States has legislated larger temporary lifelines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic than Europe partly because its social safety net has traditionally been smaller.
While some of these temporary lifelines will expire over time, making parts of these provisions permanent and upgrading the tax-benefits systems can also automatically stabilize people’s incomes in future epidemics and crises.
But what are the attributes of a good social safety net? Three matter the most:
• First, provide broad coverage and adequate benefits to vulnerable groups in a progressive way—that is, more generous benefits to the poorest.
• Second, preserve work incentives and help beneficiaries find jobs, obtain health care, and attend education and training.
• Third, strive to avoid a fragmented, complex web of social protection programs that ends up being more costly to run and not benefiting people in a fair and consistent way.
Against these yardsticks, governments in advanced economies can improve social safety nets by covering more people within existing programs and by improving the impact the benefits have on people’s lives.
In emerging market and developing countries, governments can fill gaps in coverage by expanding existing programs and using other delivery instruments. These include mobile phone networks and in-kind provision of goods and services—especially health, food, and transportation—to reach people most in need or currently left out.
Social safety nets could result in a better redistribution if a larger share of the poorest 20 percent of the population receive more benefits relative to the richest 20 percent of the population.
CONTINUE READING…
AUTHORS:
• Vitor Gaspar, W. Raphael Lam, and Mehdi Raissi

May 7, 2020 |
The pandemic has highlighted the role of the public sector in saving lives and livelihoods. State-owned enterprises are part of that effort. They can be public utilities that provide essential services. Or public banks that provide loans to small businesses. But some are also struggling and adding to the burden on government finances. These range from national oil companies that are dealing with a large fall in oil prices, to national airlines without enough passengers traveling.
Most people encounter state-owned enterprises every day. They are likely to provide the water you drink, the electricity you use, and the bus or metro you ride to work or school. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are fully owned by the government and some are jointly owned with private investors.
State-owned enterprises’ assets are worth $45 trillion, equivalent to half of global GDP.
Our new Fiscal Monitor delves into this other government. How have state-owned enterprises evolved in recent decades? How can countries get the most out of them? At their best, they can help countries achieve economic and social goals. At their worst, they need large bailouts from taxpayers and hinder economic growth. Which version you get boils down to good governance and accountability.
Big and complicated
State-owned enterprises are present in all countries. In some, like China, Germany, India, and Russia, they number in the thousands.
They are major players in many economies. For example, state-owned enterprises undertake 55 percent of total infrastructure investment in emerging and developing economies.
Some are also multinationals, operating around the world. The share of state-owned enterprises among the world’s 2000 largest firms doubled to 20 percent over the last two decades, driven by state-owned enterprises in emerging markets—their assets are worth $45 trillion, equivalent to half of global GDP.
 
CONTINUE READING…
 
AUTHORS:
• Vitor Gaspar, Paulo Medas, and John Ralyea
Compliments of the IMF.

May 4, 2020 |
Today, the Commission registered €7.4 billion, equivalent to $8 billion, in pledges from donors worldwide during the Coronavirus Global Response pledging event. This includes a pledge of €1.4 billion by the Commission. This almost reaches the initial target of €7.5 billion and is a solid starting point for the worldwide pledging marathon, which begins today. The aim is to gather significant funding to ensure the collaborative development and universal deployment of diagnostics, treatments and vaccines against coronavirus.
President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “Today the world showed extraordinary unity for the common good. Governments and global health organisations joined forces against coronavirus. With such commitment, we are on track for developing, producing and deploying a vaccine for all. However, this is only the beginning. We need to sustain the effort and to stand ready to contribute more. The pledging marathon will continue. After governments, civil society and people worldwide need to join in, in a global mobilisation of hope and resolve.”
The pledging event was co-convened by the European Union, Canada, France, Germany, Italy (also incoming G20 presidency), Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (also holding the G20 presidency), Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom. The initiative is a response to the call from the World Health Organization (WHO) and a group of health actors for a global collaboration for the accelerated development, production and equitable global access to new coronavirus essential health technologies. The Coronavirus Global Response Initiative is comprised of three partnerships for testing, treating and preventing underpinned by health systems strengthening.
An ongoing pledging marathon
Today is an extraordinary achievement but also the start of a process to mobilise more resources. The initial target of €7.5 billion will not be enough to ensure the distribution of coronavirus health technologies worldwide, as this involves significant costs in terms of production, procurement and distribution.
To help reach the objectives of the Coronavirus Global Response, the European Commission is committing €1 billion in grants and €400 million in guarantees on loans through reprioritisation of Horizon 2020 (€1 billion), RescEU (€80 million), the Emergency Support Instrument (€150 million) and external instruments (€170 million).
€100 million will be donated to CEPI and €158 million to the World Health Organization. EU-funded calls for proposals and subsequent projects under Horizon 2020 will be aligned with the objectives of the three partnerships and subject to open access to data. Funding under RescEU will go towards the procurement, stockpiling and distribution of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.
Donors are invited to continue pledging to the Coronavirus Global Response. They can choose which priority to donate to – Test, Treat or Prevent. They can also donate to the horizontal work stream of the Coronavirus Global Response, aiming to help health systems in the world cope with the pandemic.
The Commission will soon announce the breakdown of the amount raised today and how much will go to vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics and health systems strengthening related to COVID-19.
A cooperation framework to align global efforts
A universal and affordable Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT-Accelerator) was the main objective of the 24 April call to action from global health partners. For this, significant funding is needed, as well as a solid collaborative structure, with a clarity of purpose to ensure that the donated money is put to good use and to avoid fragmentation of efforts.
Based on discussions with public and private sector partners as well as non-profit organisations, the European Commission proposes a collaborative framework for the ACT-accelerator global response. This framework is designed as a coordination structure to steer and oversee progress made globally in accelerating work on developing vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics with universal access as well as strengthening health systems as required for meeting these three priorities.
This collaboration framework is intended to be time-bound (2 years, renewable) and build on existing organisations without creating any new structures. In the European Commission’s view, it would bring together partners like the WHO, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and some of the initial convenor countries  as well as many recognised global health actors such as CEPI, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund or UNITAID.
The core of the framework would be three partnerships based on the three priorities of the Coronavirus Global Response. They gather industry, research, foundations, regulators and international organisations, with a “whole-value-chain” approach: from research to manufacturing and deployment. The three partnerships would work as autonomously as possible, with a transversal work stream on enhancing the capacity of health systems and knowledge and data sharing.
The Commission registers and keeps track of pledges up until end of May but will not receive any payments into its accounts. Funds go directly to the recipients. Recipients will, however, not decide alone on the use of the donation, but deploy it in concertation with the partnership.The commitment is for all new vaccines, diagnostics and treatments against coronavirus to be made available globally for an affordable price, regardless of where they were developed.
Next steps
The global response must also include civil society, and the global community of citizens. For that reason, the European Commission is joining forces with NGOs such as Global Citizen and other partners.
The Global Vaccines Summit that Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, will organise on 4 June will mobilise additional funding to protect the next generation with vaccines. As the world relies on Gavi’s work for making vaccination available everywhere, the success of Gavi’s replenishment will be crucial to the success of the Coronavirus Global Response.
Background
The Coronavirus Global Response builds on the commitment made by G20 leaders on 26 March.
Grounded in a vision of a planet protected from human suffering and the devastating social and economic consequences of the coronavirus, an initial group of global health actors launched a call to action for global collaboration for the accelerated development, production and equitable global access to new coronavirus essential health technologies.
On 24 April, the World Health Organization (WHO) and an initial group of health actors launched a collaboration for the accelerated development, production and equitable global Access to COVID-19 Tools – the ACT Accelerator. Together, they issued a call to action.
The European Commission responded to this call by joining forces with global partners to host a pledging event – the Coronavirus Global Response Initiative – as of 4 May 2020.
Funding, including the EU contribution, pledged since 30 January 2020 – the date when the WHO declared coronavirus a global health emergency – will be counted as part of the Coronavirus Global Response funding target with the commitment that these will contribute to and align with the ACT-Accelerator framework.
For More Information
Coronavirus Global Response website
Questions and Answers: the Coronavirus Global Response
Factsheet – The Coronavirus Global Response
The Commission’s Coronavirus Response
Compliments of the European Commission.