EU countries have so far refused Italy's plea for help fighting coronavirus, as national capitals worry that they may need to stockpile face masks and other medical gear to help their own citizens, officials and diplomats said.
The refusal so far to volunteer help for Italy, which requested face masks through the EU's civil protection mechanism, highlights the urgency for Brussels as it seeks to orchestrate a coordinated response to the epidemic, and to make use of its still relatively limited powers during public health emergencies compared to the broader authority of member states.
Indeed, Rome's hopes for assistance are now pinned on the Commission's triggering of an emergency joint procurement process that allows the EU to purchase urgent medical supplies and to distribute those resources where most-needed across the Continent, even if capitals are reluctant to help each other.
But the EU still has an extremely limited ability to take action beyond its core responsibility under the EU treaties to complement national policies and serve as a clearinghouse for information. That's despite efforts in recent years to take account of an array of new cross-border threats — not just pandemics but also bioterrorism and chemical attacks.
On Friday, EU health ministers will convene in Brussels for their latest extraordinary meeting aimed at boosting cooperation and creating some consistency in countering the coronavirus epidemic. From the outset, EU capitals responded with a motley array of approaches aimed at containment that, at best, yielded spotty results.
One EU diplomat said a goal of Friday's health ministers' meeting was to further improve coordination of different national approaches.
Italy and the Czech Republic were among the first countries to stop flights to China, yet Italy has been hit by the worst outbreak in Europe.
Lithuania has declared a state of emergency before the country even had a case.
Spain had focused on an outbreak in the Canary Islands, even locking down an entire resort hotel, but recently discovered that a man who died in Valencia on February 13 was infected, suggesting the virus has been circulating far longer than officials knew.
Adding to a sense of disarray, the EU institutions have also adopted different responses, with the Parliament restricting access to its Brussels buildings and canceling many events, while the Commission and Council largely continued operating as normal. The Parliament for days also resisted canceling its monthly plenary in Strasbourg, only to abruptly reverse course on Thursday evening and switch the session to Brussels.
The EU institutions have also adopted different responses to coronavirus | John Thys/AFP via Getty Images
One Commission official contrasted the uneven response to coronavirus with the coordinated effort by the three EU presidents to show their resolve in preventing a new migration crisis. “If you could get von der Leyen, Sassoli and Michel all on a plane to Greece,” the official said, then clearly the coronavirus response could have been better choreographed.
One EU diplomat said a goal of Friday's health ministers' meeting was to further improve coordination of different national approaches.
“Health policies are national competence," the diplomat said. "That’s why we emphasize so much information sharing because it’s the best way we can share the best ideas and solutions ... our idea is to push member states and be coordinated."
The reluctance to help Italy shows just how quickly and unpredictably the actions of political leaders can shift in a crisis. On Monday, France, Germany and the U.K. announced they would send emergency medical equipment and pledged €5 million in aid to Iran which, along with Italy, has suffered the most coronavirus fatalities outside of China.
Just weeks ago, Italy was one of five EU countries, along with France, Germany, Latvia and Estonia, to send more than 30.5 tons of protective equipment to China, with the transport costs jointly financed by the EU.
Some experts said that the EU's response to coronavirus already showed a marked improvement on the handling of the 2009 pandemic of H1N1, known as swine flu.
This week, however, as the number of confirmed cases soared in Italy and across Europe, EU leaders in the Commission and the Council raced to show a more aggressive response.
On Monday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a news conference at the EU Emergency Response Coordination Centre to announce the creation of a new "corona response team."
Also on Monday, the Croatian presidency of the Council of the EU shifted the EU's Integrated Political Crisis Response effort into "full activation" mode — the highest level of joint emergency coordination between the Commission, the Council, the European External Action Service, member countries, and other "relevant" entities.
Some photos of the Commission's emergency center, showing workers in blue-and-yellow vests monitoring the outbreak on multiple computer screens, drew mockery. But officials said that a certain amount of political theater is useful in a crisis to help reassure an anxious public at a time when human responses are not always rational.
And some experts said that the EU's response to coronavirus already showed a marked improvement on the handling of the 2009 pandemic of H1N1, known as swine flu.
An almost empty British Airways passenger plane flies from Milan | Laurel Chor/Getty Images
Partly as a result of the chaotic response in 2009, the EU developed the Cross-border Health Threat Decision, a 2013 law that expanded the EU's collective powers during a crisis — allowing Brussels to declare an emergency even if the World Health Organization refused to do so, and to take an array of collective steps, such as ordering the development of vaccines (which it has not yet done for coronavirus).
"This Health Threat Decision really has improved the coordination of the response," said Anniek de Ruijter, an associate professor at the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance. "When the swine flu broke out, there was a lot of ad hoc policymaking."
"Now that we have this Health Threat Decision, there is this possibility of common procurement for medical equipment," de Ruijter said. "They are now creating a tender for public procurement of medical equipment, which really ensures the distribution of this type of equipment throughout the EU, so that it goes to the countries that need it more most urgently. If Italy has no equipment, when they are actually hardest hit in Europe right now, then it will affect us all."
A Commission spokesperson said officials were working to get Italy the masks it requested.
"The EU Emergency Response Coordination Centre is now working 24/7 and has relayed the request to all member states to mobilize offers of assistance," said Commission spokesperson Vivian Loonela.
De Ruijter said the EU was best positioned to serve as a coordinator and let national and local governments work directly with citizens.
“Things like quarantining people, and isolating people and school closures, they are highly political and you have to have a good relationship between government and the citizen," she said. "So I would actually say that in something that really requires a lot of trust between citizens and government, the EU should have more of a background role in facilitating solidarity between member states to do their work.
“We don’t need people in EU jackets standing around hospitals," she added. "That’s just not necessary."
Maïa de La Baume and Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting.
This article is part of POLITICO’s premium policy service: Pro Health Care. From drug pricing, EMA, vaccines, pharma and more, our specialized journalists keep you on top of the topics driving the health care policy agenda. Email pro@politico.eu for a complimentary trial.
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