During the debate at the European Parliament on the Presentation of the programme of activities of the Portuguese Presidency, Ursula VON DER LEYEN makes a statement on the evolution of the COVID19 epidemic in Europe (vaccination, aid to third countries, variants and border management). This transcription speech is the result of an automatic process. Check against delivery.

debate

plenary session

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

Coronavirus outbreak (T)

vaccination strategy (T)

Statement by Ursula von der LEYEN, EC President on the evolution of the COVID19 epidemic in Europe

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, Honourable members, as we all know, any recovery depends on overcoming the pandemic. I will not repeat what you already heard yesterday in your debate on the vaccine strategy, but I want to say this: staying united at 27 on vaccines was the best choice. It was Europe at its best.

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, And if anyone have any doubts, I simply urge you to look at the list of the top 50 countries in the world who have vaccinated the highest percentage of their population. All 27 member states are on that list.

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, Without a common EU approach, how many member states would have been on that list. Without a common EU approach, how many member states would not have been able to negotiate a single contract? What would have had meant for our Union if one member state had vaccinated almost all of its citizens before others have even started?

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, But by working together, the Commission was able to secure the broadest portfolio of vaccines in the world. As you know, this gives us access to two point three billion doses and this is more than enough for Europe and our neighbourhood.

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, And a word on our neighbourhood, we need to support them to start vaccinating their frontline workers from the Western Balkans to the Eastern Partnership to our African partners in the South. This is why the commission is proposing an EU vaccine sharing mechanism. This will channel vaccines either directly or through the Kovács facility in which the EU is the largest contributor to low and middle income countries.

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, In total Team Europe has already provided almost 40 billion euros of support to our partners since last April, and we need to show the same leadership when it comes to vaccines.

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, I know some will ask how we can talk about sharing vaccines with others when we are not all vaccinated ourselves. To them, I say. This is not only a matter of solidarity, but also a matter of self-interest. We will only come out of this pandemic together. This is true for our health, this is true for our economies, this is true for our supply chains, and this is also true for our geopolitical credibility and influence.

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, Those who show support to their partners with dozers and deeds will not be forgotten, but those who do not, will be remembered, but for very different reasons. And I'm determined that Europe must be on the right side of history and humanity. And I know this house feels the same way too.

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, It's a race against time. We have made progress at an unprecedented speed. What we have achieved in ten months with vaccine development usually takes ten years. Of course, all countries around the world face difficulties on the track, be it in production, sales and logistics.

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, But we will overcome that and we will do so quickly. But here, too, it is only possible if we act together. I will address key issues at the videoconference with the Heads of State and Government tomorrow. We need to get faster when vaccinating. The pace in Europe is still far too different. We need to help companies to increase production capacity. And so can we. And that's already on the way. And we need to closely monitor the spread of the new variants of the virus.

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President The spread of these variants is a cause for severe concern. This is indeed a race against time. The EU urgently needs to speed up genome sequencing. Currently only one member state is testing above one percent of positive tests and many have not even yet started. This makes it very difficult to identify the progress of the variants or to detect potential new ones.

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, We should aim for every member state to scale up sequencing to five to 10 percent of the positive tests. And I know not every country has the capacity to do so, but our agency, ECDC does, and every member state has access to that capacity. But only two so far used it.

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, My last point is about preserving our single market. The message is clear. The blanket closure of borders in this situation makes no sense, they harm the functioning of the single market. And they are not as effective as targeted measures. And this is why we need a common approach to test, trace, travel and borders, and the commission has put everything on the table to ensure that we can do that.

SOUNDBITE, Ursula VON DER LEYEN, EC President, Honourable members, all of this will take continued efforts from us all, and I'm delighted that we will have the Portuguese presidency alongside us to make it happen. Together, we will overcome the pandemic. And as the Portuguese presidency so aptly says in its motto, it's time to deliver. Thank you.