It was hardly imaginable just a few weeks ago, but it is now clear: this year, the holidays will once again be dominated by the pandemic.
At fault is the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. It was precisely for such health emergencies that the EU Commission set up the HERA crisis agency in the autumn. It does not yet have all the resources it needs, but HERA has already started work, reports Eugenie Ankowitsch. Even with the handbrake on, the agency is already taking on tasks that could help us overcome the pandemic eventually.
Before Christmas, the new German Federal Government was unable to reach a final agreement on the new digital distribution. However, other responsibilities are now clearer, which are also relevant for European policy. Falk Steiner shows how far the traffic light parties have come and which questions are still open.
And now, enjoy reading the last scheduled issue of Europe.Table Professional Briefing of 2021. We will be back with our regular weekday briefing on January 3rd, 2022. In exceptional cases and in the event of special developments, we may keep you up to date with special issues.
Stay healthy, enjoy the rest and recover well over the holidays.
The COVID-19 variant Omicron is spreading more and more in Europe. Besides Great Britain, the German neighboring country Denmark is particularly affected. Despite vaccination rates of over 80 percent, Omicron is now the dominant variant. In other countries such as Spain, Portugal, and France, the infection figures are also rising rapidly. With the exception of Luxembourg, all German neighbors are now considered high-incidence areas.
Meanwhile, Germany further restricted cross-border travel to slow the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant. Britain has been classified as a so-called virus variant area since Monday. France has also stopped allowing people from the UK to enter the country without vaccination and testing.
Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Italy also require EU citizens to have a negative test in addition to vaccination against COVID-19. In Austria, anyone who has not yet had a booster vaccination needs a 2G detection and additionally a negative PCR test in order not to have to go into quarantine.
At the end of September, the new European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) was established precisely for such exceptional health situations. Its aim is to prevent health emergencies, detect dangerous pathogens more quickly and respond swiftly in the event of a crisis. Above all, the rapid development, production, and distribution of medicines, vaccines, and medical equipment are to be ensured in an emergency.
Most recently, however, the member states and the EU Commission have been wrangling for weeks over the so-called emergency framework for medical countermeasures, which forms the legal basis for HERA’s work. The crisis agency has long since begun its work away from the big political stage, albeit with the handbrake on. HERA does not yet have the full financial and human resources at its disposal. The agency is not expected to be fully operational with the planned number of staff and substantial financial resources until spring 2022.
HERA is already active in the transition phase, the EU Commission announced. In a predecessor organization, an expert group was set up in the first half of 2021 to advise on the need for new or adapted vaccines and on the development of additional public health measures at the EU level. Following initial reports from South Africa about the new Omikron virus variant, this expert group met immediately to discuss the next steps, a spokeswoman for the EU Commission said.
Subsequently, three European laboratories were commissioned to characterize the new virus variant, funded by HERA. Intensive work is currently underway to find out as much as possible about the mutant. It is still unclear how infectious the mutant actually is and whether it is less likely to cause severe disease.
According to the EU Commission, HERA has been in close contact with vaccine manufacturers since Omicron emerged to exchange views on the need for vaccine adaptation. The agency is also said to be working closely with member states to begin joint procurement of drugs against COVID-19 as soon as possible. HERA is also assisting member states with genome sequencing. Ways to help EU countries with contact tracing and effluent monitoring are also being explored.
From a financial point of view, HERA will be able to draw on a wealth of resources in the future. The EU agency will receive a total of €6 billion over six years from the EU’s multi-year financial framework and the “Next Generation EU” reconstruction program. An additional €24 billion will come from other EU programs such as EU4Health, which has recently been heavily criticized, especially by MEPs. Some MEPs feared that there might not be enough money left over for other priorities of the program.
In view of the rapidly increasing number of infections, there is a growing concern about staff shortages in many EU countries. In Germany, virologist Christian Drosten warned of massive work absences due to illness. He referred to the situation in Great Britain, where the Omicron variant has long been rampant.
As the British newspaper The Guardian reported, without tighter measures, 32,000 to 130,000 National Health Service (NHS) workers could be absent at Christmas. The Guy’s and St Thomas’ Trust (GSTT), which runs several hospitals in London, is already dealing with several hundred sick notes, it said. Across the UK, quite a few trains are canceled because of COVID infection cases, the BBC reported.
“Should the spread of the Omicron variant in Germany continue in this way, a relevant part of the population would be simultaneously ill and/or quarantined,” the press release from the German government’s COVID Expert Council also states. “This would put an extreme strain on the health care system and the entire critical infrastructure of our country.”
In Austria, up to 30 percent of workers could be absent because they are sitting at home infected, warned Gerry Foitik, the federal rescue commander of the Red Cross. Making matters worse, he said, is the fact that much stricter quarantine rules apply to Category 1 contacts because of Omicron. Regardless of whether they have been vaccinated, boosted, or have recovered, they must be quarantined for a full 14 days without the possibility of a free test.
It is clear that parts of the digital department of the Federal Ministry of Economics will move to the BMDV. Negotiations on this have not yet been concluded, but in the future, the BMDV, with two departments under the new State Secretary Stefan Schnorr, will be in charge of digital infrastructure issues on the one hand, and telecommunications and large parts of Telemedia on the other.
Schnorr is the former head of the department for digital and innovation policy at the BMWi and knows the dossiers well. For the time being, Tobias Miethaner will remain head of the department for digital infrastructure. He was brought in by Alexander Dobrindt in 2015 directly from the CSU national leadership, but is considered by experts to be an experienced lawyer.
The move of digital policy responsibilities from Schnorr’s old department to the BMDV also brings a change with direct implications on European policy: Responsibility within the Federal Government for the Digital Services Act (DSA) dossier moves to the BMDV on the other side of the Invalidenpark. As a result, the ministry led by Volker Wissing (FDP) is also likely to get the lead on the question of which German authority should fill the role of digital super-supervisor required under the DSA: So far, parts of the regulatory scope of the DSA have been enforced by different actors – from the Federal Office of Justice to the Federal Network Agency.
The Digital Markets Act, however, will remain part of competition policy in the Ministry of Economics under Philipp Steinberg, who will also remain in his post. In addition, Udo Philipp as the responsible civil servant State Secretary and Franziska Brantner as Parliamentary State Secretary will be significantly involved in digital projects of this department in the future.
Brantner is well-known in Brussels, not least because of her past in the European Parliament. France expert Philipp was most recently State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. However, before his political involvement, for which Philipp cites the 2009 financial crisis as his awakening experience, he spent a large part of his professional life at the investor EQT Partners and, even before that, at the Bertelsmann Foundation. From 1993 to 1995, however, he was already once in the BMWi: as a personal assistant to Guenter Rexrodt (FDP). Philipp is not known to have a greater affinity for digital affairs. However, the topic of fairer taxation of internationally spread and digital economic models has been on his mind for some time.
The responsibility for data retention – which Minister Marco Buschmann wants to abolish – is to remain in the Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ). Digital responsibilities for consumer law will be shifted to a large extent to the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUV), but the classic responsibilities of contract law and collective redress will remain with the BMJ. AI Regulation will continue to be handled by several departments. The same applies to general data policy, i.e. the Digital Governance Act and the forthcoming Data Act: here too, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is to remain the main point of contact.
However, the BMUV, BMDV, and the BMJ, BMI, and BMAS, in accordance with their specialist responsibilities, should also continue to have a say. The Habeck ministry’s responsibility for Germany’s and the EU’s major chip factory plans is likely to remain largely exclusive, with partial overlaps with the BMBF in the area of research funding.
It remains unclear until the new year whether the fundamental issues of digital policy will now leave the Chancellor’s Office – and then probably towards the BMDV – or will remain there.
It was more by chance that he joined the Young Union of Germany in 1986, says David McAllister. Due to his childhood in West Berlin, he developed an early interest in politics. After moving to Bad Bederkesa in Lower Saxony in the early 1980s, this interest turned into a political commitment to a party.
McAllister has been a member of the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg since 2014. When he comes home at the weekend, he still first reads “the stack of my local newspapers” to find out what’s going on in regional politics.
From Bad Bederkesa, he is elected to the Lower Saxony state parliament in 1998 and later as chairman of the CDU parliamentary group. In 2010, he succeeds Christian Wulff as Minister-President of Lower Saxony – the first with dual citizenship. McAllister holds both a British passport and a German one.
The change of government to Red-Green in 2013 was a turning point, not only for the CDU in Lower Saxony. “I seriously considered doing something completely different,” says McAllister. After some time to think it over, however, he does succeed Hans-Gert Poettering as the CDU’s top candidate for the European Parliament.
“I am a convinced European,” McAllister describes himself. Even though Germany is his home country, he is aware of his British character. However, he stays out of the domestic political debates in the United Kingdom. For him, Brexit is a “historic mistake”.
McAllister is the contact person in the European Parliament for all questions concerning the relationship with the UK. This also includes “trying to make the best of the situation wherever possible”, he says.
David McAllister is also Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. It deals, among other things, with the strengthening of political relations with third countries and the negotiations on accession to the EU.
McAllister places a focus on common foreign and security policy. Economically, Europe is very well-developed, but not yet in terms of foreign policy. To be able to speak on an equal footing with powers such as the US or Russia, the member states not to work more together, he says. “The EU always ends up being a unique process of finding consensus and compromise.”
As one of three CDU members from Lower Saxony in the EU Parliament, he also represents the interests of his home state in Brussels and Strasbourg. “I am responsible for the Elbe-Weser region plus the area around Hanover,” he explains.
On weekends, he is usually at home. Also, to keep the connection to northern Germany. To relax, he then plays tennis with his daughters. Right after the stack of local newspapers tells him what happened between the Elbe and the Weser the last week. Mirja Mader
It was hardly imaginable just a few weeks ago, but it is now clear: this year, the holidays will once again be dominated by the pandemic.
At fault is the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. It was precisely for such health emergencies that the EU Commission set up the HERA crisis agency in the autumn. It does not yet have all the resources it needs, but HERA has already started work, reports Eugenie Ankowitsch. Even with the handbrake on, the agency is already taking on tasks that could help us overcome the pandemic eventually.
Before Christmas, the new German Federal Government was unable to reach a final agreement on the new digital distribution. However, other responsibilities are now clearer, which are also relevant for European policy. Falk Steiner shows how far the traffic light parties have come and which questions are still open.
And now, enjoy reading the last scheduled issue of Europe.Table Professional Briefing of 2021. We will be back with our regular weekday briefing on January 3rd, 2022. In exceptional cases and in the event of special developments, we may keep you up to date with special issues.
Stay healthy, enjoy the rest and recover well over the holidays.
The COVID-19 variant Omicron is spreading more and more in Europe. Besides Great Britain, the German neighboring country Denmark is particularly affected. Despite vaccination rates of over 80 percent, Omicron is now the dominant variant. In other countries such as Spain, Portugal, and France, the infection figures are also rising rapidly. With the exception of Luxembourg, all German neighbors are now considered high-incidence areas.
Meanwhile, Germany further restricted cross-border travel to slow the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant. Britain has been classified as a so-called virus variant area since Monday. France has also stopped allowing people from the UK to enter the country without vaccination and testing.
Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Italy also require EU citizens to have a negative test in addition to vaccination against COVID-19. In Austria, anyone who has not yet had a booster vaccination needs a 2G detection and additionally a negative PCR test in order not to have to go into quarantine.
At the end of September, the new European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) was established precisely for such exceptional health situations. Its aim is to prevent health emergencies, detect dangerous pathogens more quickly and respond swiftly in the event of a crisis. Above all, the rapid development, production, and distribution of medicines, vaccines, and medical equipment are to be ensured in an emergency.
Most recently, however, the member states and the EU Commission have been wrangling for weeks over the so-called emergency framework for medical countermeasures, which forms the legal basis for HERA’s work. The crisis agency has long since begun its work away from the big political stage, albeit with the handbrake on. HERA does not yet have the full financial and human resources at its disposal. The agency is not expected to be fully operational with the planned number of staff and substantial financial resources until spring 2022.
HERA is already active in the transition phase, the EU Commission announced. In a predecessor organization, an expert group was set up in the first half of 2021 to advise on the need for new or adapted vaccines and on the development of additional public health measures at the EU level. Following initial reports from South Africa about the new Omikron virus variant, this expert group met immediately to discuss the next steps, a spokeswoman for the EU Commission said.
Subsequently, three European laboratories were commissioned to characterize the new virus variant, funded by HERA. Intensive work is currently underway to find out as much as possible about the mutant. It is still unclear how infectious the mutant actually is and whether it is less likely to cause severe disease.
According to the EU Commission, HERA has been in close contact with vaccine manufacturers since Omicron emerged to exchange views on the need for vaccine adaptation. The agency is also said to be working closely with member states to begin joint procurement of drugs against COVID-19 as soon as possible. HERA is also assisting member states with genome sequencing. Ways to help EU countries with contact tracing and effluent monitoring are also being explored.
From a financial point of view, HERA will be able to draw on a wealth of resources in the future. The EU agency will receive a total of €6 billion over six years from the EU’s multi-year financial framework and the “Next Generation EU” reconstruction program. An additional €24 billion will come from other EU programs such as EU4Health, which has recently been heavily criticized, especially by MEPs. Some MEPs feared that there might not be enough money left over for other priorities of the program.
In view of the rapidly increasing number of infections, there is a growing concern about staff shortages in many EU countries. In Germany, virologist Christian Drosten warned of massive work absences due to illness. He referred to the situation in Great Britain, where the Omicron variant has long been rampant.
As the British newspaper The Guardian reported, without tighter measures, 32,000 to 130,000 National Health Service (NHS) workers could be absent at Christmas. The Guy’s and St Thomas’ Trust (GSTT), which runs several hospitals in London, is already dealing with several hundred sick notes, it said. Across the UK, quite a few trains are canceled because of COVID infection cases, the BBC reported.
“Should the spread of the Omicron variant in Germany continue in this way, a relevant part of the population would be simultaneously ill and/or quarantined,” the press release from the German government’s COVID Expert Council also states. “This would put an extreme strain on the health care system and the entire critical infrastructure of our country.”
In Austria, up to 30 percent of workers could be absent because they are sitting at home infected, warned Gerry Foitik, the federal rescue commander of the Red Cross. Making matters worse, he said, is the fact that much stricter quarantine rules apply to Category 1 contacts because of Omicron. Regardless of whether they have been vaccinated, boosted, or have recovered, they must be quarantined for a full 14 days without the possibility of a free test.
It is clear that parts of the digital department of the Federal Ministry of Economics will move to the BMDV. Negotiations on this have not yet been concluded, but in the future, the BMDV, with two departments under the new State Secretary Stefan Schnorr, will be in charge of digital infrastructure issues on the one hand, and telecommunications and large parts of Telemedia on the other.
Schnorr is the former head of the department for digital and innovation policy at the BMWi and knows the dossiers well. For the time being, Tobias Miethaner will remain head of the department for digital infrastructure. He was brought in by Alexander Dobrindt in 2015 directly from the CSU national leadership, but is considered by experts to be an experienced lawyer.
The move of digital policy responsibilities from Schnorr’s old department to the BMDV also brings a change with direct implications on European policy: Responsibility within the Federal Government for the Digital Services Act (DSA) dossier moves to the BMDV on the other side of the Invalidenpark. As a result, the ministry led by Volker Wissing (FDP) is also likely to get the lead on the question of which German authority should fill the role of digital super-supervisor required under the DSA: So far, parts of the regulatory scope of the DSA have been enforced by different actors – from the Federal Office of Justice to the Federal Network Agency.
The Digital Markets Act, however, will remain part of competition policy in the Ministry of Economics under Philipp Steinberg, who will also remain in his post. In addition, Udo Philipp as the responsible civil servant State Secretary and Franziska Brantner as Parliamentary State Secretary will be significantly involved in digital projects of this department in the future.
Brantner is well-known in Brussels, not least because of her past in the European Parliament. France expert Philipp was most recently State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. However, before his political involvement, for which Philipp cites the 2009 financial crisis as his awakening experience, he spent a large part of his professional life at the investor EQT Partners and, even before that, at the Bertelsmann Foundation. From 1993 to 1995, however, he was already once in the BMWi: as a personal assistant to Guenter Rexrodt (FDP). Philipp is not known to have a greater affinity for digital affairs. However, the topic of fairer taxation of internationally spread and digital economic models has been on his mind for some time.
The responsibility for data retention – which Minister Marco Buschmann wants to abolish – is to remain in the Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ). Digital responsibilities for consumer law will be shifted to a large extent to the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMUV), but the classic responsibilities of contract law and collective redress will remain with the BMJ. AI Regulation will continue to be handled by several departments. The same applies to general data policy, i.e. the Digital Governance Act and the forthcoming Data Act: here too, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is to remain the main point of contact.
However, the BMUV, BMDV, and the BMJ, BMI, and BMAS, in accordance with their specialist responsibilities, should also continue to have a say. The Habeck ministry’s responsibility for Germany’s and the EU’s major chip factory plans is likely to remain largely exclusive, with partial overlaps with the BMBF in the area of research funding.
It remains unclear until the new year whether the fundamental issues of digital policy will now leave the Chancellor’s Office – and then probably towards the BMDV – or will remain there.
It was more by chance that he joined the Young Union of Germany in 1986, says David McAllister. Due to his childhood in West Berlin, he developed an early interest in politics. After moving to Bad Bederkesa in Lower Saxony in the early 1980s, this interest turned into a political commitment to a party.
McAllister has been a member of the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg since 2014. When he comes home at the weekend, he still first reads “the stack of my local newspapers” to find out what’s going on in regional politics.
From Bad Bederkesa, he is elected to the Lower Saxony state parliament in 1998 and later as chairman of the CDU parliamentary group. In 2010, he succeeds Christian Wulff as Minister-President of Lower Saxony – the first with dual citizenship. McAllister holds both a British passport and a German one.
The change of government to Red-Green in 2013 was a turning point, not only for the CDU in Lower Saxony. “I seriously considered doing something completely different,” says McAllister. After some time to think it over, however, he does succeed Hans-Gert Poettering as the CDU’s top candidate for the European Parliament.
“I am a convinced European,” McAllister describes himself. Even though Germany is his home country, he is aware of his British character. However, he stays out of the domestic political debates in the United Kingdom. For him, Brexit is a “historic mistake”.
McAllister is the contact person in the European Parliament for all questions concerning the relationship with the UK. This also includes “trying to make the best of the situation wherever possible”, he says.
David McAllister is also Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. It deals, among other things, with the strengthening of political relations with third countries and the negotiations on accession to the EU.
McAllister places a focus on common foreign and security policy. Economically, Europe is very well-developed, but not yet in terms of foreign policy. To be able to speak on an equal footing with powers such as the US or Russia, the member states not to work more together, he says. “The EU always ends up being a unique process of finding consensus and compromise.”
As one of three CDU members from Lower Saxony in the EU Parliament, he also represents the interests of his home state in Brussels and Strasbourg. “I am responsible for the Elbe-Weser region plus the area around Hanover,” he explains.
On weekends, he is usually at home. Also, to keep the connection to northern Germany. To relax, he then plays tennis with his daughters. Right after the stack of local newspapers tells him what happened between the Elbe and the Weser the last week. Mirja Mader
