EU leaders link arms for long coronavirus fight

EU leaders pledged Thursday night to step up cooperation on every aspect of their fight against the coronavirus — by keeping borders open, improving testing and contact tracing, monitoring critical care capacity and arranging cross-border patient transfers if necessary, and developing plans for the swift manufacture and distribution of vaccines.

During a roughly three-hour videoconference, the 27 heads of state and government, and the presidents of the Commission and Council, also conferred about pandemic “fatigue” as citizens grow increasingly sick and tired of the world being ill or at risk. Some leaders seemed sick and tired of it all themselves.

But overall, even as they acknowledged clear failures in the early months of the outbreak as well as in preventing a second wave of infections, the leaders voiced determination and seemed prepared to hunker down for a months-long fight. And they urged the EU’s 440 million citizens to do their part amid renewed lockdowns, curfews and other containment measures.

“I want to stress that I understand how tired and worried everyone is,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a news conference following the leaders’ call. “We are all wondering when we will come out of this crisis. But now is the time for patience, for determination and for discipline from all of us, from governments right down to each of us individually.”

Von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel laid out an array of steps political leaders planned to take in coming months, including faster and more consistent testing; wider use of digital contact tracing and better interfacing of the different national apps; improved data sharing especially on hospital critical care capacity; a knowledge base to connect national scientific experts; expanded coordination to keep cargo moving on roads, at sea and in the air; and development and coordination of national vaccine strategies. ...

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