EU Standards for COVID-19 Are Demanded
EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn, National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (both ÖVP) and EU Member of Parliament Manfred Weber (CSU) are demanding EU standardised regulations in order to prevent further confusion as the regulations within the EU states are varying.
Wolfgang Sobotka, Johannes Hahn and Manfred Weber discussed in Salzburg a possible coordination of EU member states concerning Corona regulations. / Picture: © Parlamentsdirektion / VOGL-Perspektive (www.vogl-perspektive.at)
At a meeting in Salzburg, Hahn, Sobotka and Weber were discussing the different Coronavirus regulations within the EU member states. All three agree that EU standards should be implemented to avoid any confusion and to increase the trust in the politicians.
Citizens of the EU started criticizing the different regulations concerning the mandatory mask wearing, social distancing and quarantine time. It is difficult to keep an overview even more for those who have to commute.
Hahn mentioned the regulation of social distancing as in Austria, for example, the distance has to be 1.5 meters and in Luxembourg 2 meters. However, in his opinion the mandatory mask wearing should be able to be decided on regionally.
Weber wants to build a new EU institute which can be compared with the "Robert Koch Institut" in Germany. Critics claim however that the "Robert Koch Institut" released many conflicting statements and assessments during the COVID-19 crisis.
Sobotka is highlighting the trust in the politicians can decline fast as countries use different statistics and numbers while explaining the risk and impact of the virus.
This leads to a different perception of the risk within different countries. Therefore, it is also hardly possible to compare the numbers of infections as the calculation methods differ.
The three politicians also request standards concerning travel warnings in order to prevent such a chaos as it happened at the Austrian border on the weekend.
In general, the EU does not have any right to say in the health policies of its members. However, this should not prevent the members to coordinate their regulations.
It will be necessary to work closely together in winter as then the infections are forecasted to rise dramatically again.
If different approaches are taken again and there is no coordination, a second lockdown is possible and will lead to an economical disaster.
Experts agree that a second lockdown will have massive negative impact on the society and economy of the EU member states.