EU vaccination obligation, tomorrow confrontation between leaders

Vaccination obligation on the European Union table. The EU heads of state and government will also discuss tomorrow in Brussels on whether or not to introduce the obligation to vaccinate against Covid-19 in individual EU member states. “The issue can be expected to be addressed” in the European Council, explains a senior EU official. Read also “It is possible that there will be an exchange on this” during tomorrow morning’s debate on the epidemiological situation, predicts the source, recalling that decisions in this field are not the responsibility of the EU, but exclusively of the nation states. This morning, the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, who had already opened the discussion on the vaccination obligation, stressed in Strasbourg that the “price” that Europe pays for people who refuse to vaccinate against Covid- 19 is becoming “higher and higher”. Meanwhile, Italy’s decision to require travelers from other EU countries to carry out a Covid test, even for vaccinated people, is being understood by other Member States, even if the Commission stresses that the measure should have been notified in advance, which did not happen. “I believe that tomorrow we will hear from Mario Draghi the reasons for this decision – says a European diplomatic source – but I assume that it is based on the domestic situation” and above all on the risks posed from the Omicron variant. Even if the EU tries as much as possible to move “in a coordinated way” on this matter, he recalls, “there is always the possibility for national and even regional decisions”. It is the “individual right” of the Member States to make similar decisions.