During the plenary session (24-25 March 2021) in the European Parliament in Brussels, MEPs discuss on the preparation of the European Council meeting of 25 and 26 March 2021 which will focus on Digital Green Certificate; COVID-19; Single market, industrial policy, digital transformation and the economy; Eastern Mediterranean; and Russia. Opening statements by Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, and Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs and President in office of the Council of the EU. This transcription speech is the result of an automatic process. Check against delivery.

Brussels

statement

debate

plenary session

ŠEFČOVIČ, Maroš (SK, EC)

healthcare safety (T)

Coronavirus outbreak (T)

vaccination strategy (T)

ZACARIAS, Ana Paula (PT)

European Council meeting 25-26 March 2021 (T)

EU covid-19 certificate (T)

Joint debate on the preparation of the European Council meeting of 25 and 26 March 2021 and the Digital Green Certificate: opening statements by Ana Paula ZACARIAS and Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ

SOUNDBITE (Original), David SASSOLI, EP President, And now we have the joint discussion on the preparation of the European Council and the Green Digital certificate, could I remind you that there's no catch the eye or blue card procedure, and as in previous sessions, we will have speakers who will be intervening from the European Parliament's offices elsewhere. I would like to thank Vice- President Sefcovic and the Minister for being with us here today. And I'd like to go over to the Minister without further ado.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, Dear President, honourable members, Commissioner, while it was initially planned as a physical meeting, President Charles Michel has decided to turn the European Council into a video conference in light of the worsening of the covid situation in several member states, as you know.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, So all points will remain on the agenda, but the item on Russia will be transformed into an information point. In addition, President Michel invited President Biden for an informal exchange of views on our future cooperation with the United States. So one year after the outbreak of the pandemic, covid-19 continues to dominate the agenda. And we face serious challenges following the emergence of new threats of a new variants of the virus.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, Only vaccines can offer us a way out of the crisis. We need to do our utmost to help boost vaccine production and ensure more transparency, predictability and the supply of the vaccines so that we can speed up the vaccination campaigns across the EU. To this end, it is fundamental that companies respect their contractual delivery deadlines and we support the efforts of the European Commission to this endeavour.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, The current epidemiological situation is still of great concerns, but when the time comes to start a gradual return to normal life, we should make sure that we act in a coordinated way. Looking ahead, we want to make sure that we have solutions that work across member states. And this is fundamental for our citizens, for our societies and for the recovery of our economies. This way, we welcome the legislation proposed by the European Commission on the Digital Green Certificate.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, It is a key element also for the European Parliament, and I am glad for this opportunity to discuss this further with you. The Council is ready to move fast in these proposals. So we have the certificate and the system functioning hopefully before the summer. This means that these proposals have to be dealt with in a very short framework. We do not have a lot of time and we have to do this in our two institutions and between our two institutions, in a spirit of transparency, cooperation and compromise.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, We should aim to reach a political agreement with the European Parliament by May. Work has already started at the Council preparatory bodies and the presidency aims to have a negotiating mandate by mid-April. On the content of the proposals, the presidency believes that the European binding approach was necessary to guarantee common rules on the issuance and acceptance of the certificates and also at their interoperability without making vaccination a precondition to travel within the EU.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, In fact, several of our citizens feared being discriminated by this instrument as not everyone could be vaccinated or wish to be vaccinated. In this regard, we believe that the Commission took the right approach when it included in this digital green certificate, the question of tests and also the recovery certificate. Where I would like to reiterate the importance of ensure inclusiveness and of paying attention not to exclude some categories of persons such as elderly people and those with less access to digital technologies.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, On data protection, we consider that the principle of data minimisation and the fact that no data will be stored at European level are important guarantees that have been already included in the proposals. Furthermore, national personal data regulations will apply. Another important aspect which member states are attached is the need to ensure this interoperability with the work of WHO and to continue to work in close collaboration with other international bodies.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, The implementation of an EU framework and national systems will require significant efforts from member states as there are many technological challenges and for this reason it will be important for them to receive expert technical and financial support from the Commission. Finally, during the legislative process, we should not underestimate the importance of communicating in the right way on this initiative.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, The expectations of citizens on reopening Europe for travel will only raise as we will approach the adoption of these instruments. Honourable members, very briefly, a couple of other points concerning the [...]. First, the EU economic response to covid-19 has been steadfast and unprecedented. The regulation establishing the recovery and resilience facility has entered into force.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, We now need to implement it swiftly to support the EU wide recovery, according to the new guidelines of the European Semester. And of course, the leaders will address this issue. Secondly, they will discuss key elements of our economic base, namely the full functioning of the single market, resilience and competitiveness of our industry and Europe's open strategic autonomy.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, They will also address the question of the digital future. And here it is important to maintain an ambitious approach and ensure the digital transition is inclusive, leaving no one behind. The leaders will build on the 2030 Digital Compass as well on the Digital Services Act package that has been dealt within the Council in a very progressive and intensive pace. The leaders will also address digital taxation. The EU stands behind efforts to find a global consensus, but we will also be ready to look into a European solution should there be no progress at international level.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, Finally, the leaders will also dedicate time to discuss external relations, in particular to foster EU-US transatlantic relations and the future cooperation through an informal exchange of views with President Biden. This is a very timely debate, taking into consideration the current geostrategic challenges at multilateral level from human rights, as we have seen to climate, from health to trade, as well as the relations with Beijing and Moscow.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, On Russia, the President of the European Council has foreseen just an information point for the leaders. This will take place in the context of the continuous negative pattern of shrinking space for the opposition, civil society and independent voices in Russia, which is a source of concern for all of us. And they will also discuss Turkey on the basis of the recent report by the high representative and the Commission.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ana Paula ZACARIAS, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, They will assess the recent developments and discuss the way forward, including at the light of this recent Turkey withdraw from the Istanbul convention. The leaders will meet on Friday and at the end also of this meeting on Friday, they will discuss at the level of the euro summit and in the inclusive format, they will discuss the international role of the euro. So it will be a very long and productive meeting, I'm sure. Thank you very much for your attention.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, Dear President, honourable members, it has now been over a year since Europe went into lockdown and overnight our lives were turned upside down as we put all our energies into fighting this terrible virus, which is causing so much suffering in Europe and around the world. A year of being limited in what we can do, where we can go home, who we can see, who we can meet.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, And this all had understandably led to some pandemic fatigue. But now is not the time to take our eye off the ball. Despite some problems with vaccine procurement and AstraZeneca in particular continues to underdeliver, we have good reason to hope that the situation will improve in the second quarter. We expect to receive 200 million doses of the Pfizer vaccines, 55 million doses of the single Johnson and Johnson vaccine, and 35 million doses of the Moderna vaccines by the end of the second quarter.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, This is in addition to the 70 million doses of AstraZeneca currently foreseen, albeit far less than the contractually committed 180 million doses. If these estimates prove accurate, we should achieve our target of having 70 percent of Europe's adult population fully vaccinated by the end of summer. This is all the more important when we see the worrying developments with the new variants now representing close to 80 percent of infections in some countries and the spectre of the third wave approaching.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, So, as underlined by President von der Leyen last week, we will use the EU's export authorisation scheme to bolster transparency and ensure reciprocity and proportionality in our vaccine related dealings with third countries, especially those whith manufacture vaccines themselves.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, I would like to be clear the mechanism is not an export ban. In fact, so far, 380 out of 381 requests for an export authorisation have been approved. And with 43 million doses exported to 33 countries since the end of January, the EU is the world's biggest exporter of vaccines. We will continue to act fairly and responsibly and fulfil our global leadership role. That is also why exports to low and middle income countries supplies through Covax and exports to the EU overseas countries and territories remain unconditionally exempted.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, But we need to see fairness and the right balance when assessing the impact of planned exports. This is what the two adjustments to the existing mechanisms adopted today are about. To help us ensure timely access to vaccines for our EU citizens, as the President emphasised, this is an invitation to be open because open roads run in both directions.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, We also need to forge an effective and lasting path towards reopening and recovery, which fully upholds our fundamental principles of non-discrimination and data protection. To this end, last week, Commission brought forward a proposal to create the Digital Green certificate to facilitate safely movement inside the EU during covid-19 pandemic. It will be available free of charge in digital or paper format, and a QR code will help ensure its security and authenticity.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, The Digital Green certificate will work in three ways. First, it will offer proof that a person has either been vaccinated, received the recent negative test result, or recovered from covid-19 and thus has antibodies. Secondly, it will make sure that this proof is recognised in every member state. And third, the certificate will help member states re-establish full freedom of movement in a safe, responsible and trusted manner.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, The Commission will build a gateway to ensure all certificates can be verified across the European Union and will support member states in the technical implementation of certificates. The aim to have the system in place by June. And for this reason, we have asked the Parliament to treat this file under the urgent procedure.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, Honourable members, dear colleagues, we are counting on you. This is also an opportunity to influence global standards and lead by example based on our European values. The certificate is only part of our efforts towards gradual, safe and lasting reopening. Last week, we also adopted the communication, laying out what is needed to achieve this, including a common framework for response measures and measures covering testing, treatments and vaccines sharing.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, The communication also covered support for the tourism and cultural sectors and continued support for global efforts to combat the pandemic and announce the future EU strategy on covid-19 therapeutics. Also last week we adopted a recommendation on the use of waste water monitoring to track covid-19 and its variants. Waste water monitoring has proven to be an effective, reliable and relatively cheap way to identify the presence of the virus, allowing for its early detection.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, And finally, we will issue a lesson learnt communication in June, as requested by the European Council. Away from covid-19 matters, the Commission, together with the High Representative, prepare the report on the state of play of politic, economic and trade relations between EU and Turke. On this basis, leaders will give guidance on the way forward. It is clear that we must resolve our differences through dialogue and constructive, credible steps on the ground.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, We therefore deeply regret Turkey's decision to withdraw from the Istanbul convention and urged that this be reversed. Finally, on the 9th of March, the Commission set out its digital vision and goals for 2030. He proposed the digital compass, setting out ambitious targets for digital skills, digital infrastructure, the digital transformation of businesses and the digitisation of public administration.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, In addition, it will guide our international digital partnership, who will also accelerate our work on the regulatory framework to accompany the digital transition. Later this year, we will present further proposals on artificial intelligence, European digital identity and the single market for data. The fair taxation of digital economy is also a priority, and we remain committed to finding a global solution on the reform of the corporate taxation framework by mid 2021 with our partners in the OECD.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice-President of the EC in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, And we are optimistic about this process. But whatever its outcome, the Commission is committed to adopting a proposal on digital levy by the end of this semester, with a view to it becoming a new own resource. I can assure you that we can and we will design a digital levy which is compatible with the OECD process. I will stop here, honourable members and I look forward to your questions. Thank you