Zeitleiste der EU-Maßnahmen 2021

The Commission  disbursed €126 million to Estonia in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country's financial allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The pre-financing payment will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Estonia's recovery and resilience plan. 

The Commission disbursed €1.8 billion to Romania in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country's grant allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The pre-financing payment will help to kick-start the implementation of the investment and reform measures outlined in Romania's recovery and resilience plan.

The European Medicines Agency gave a positive opinion on two COVID-19 treatments - Ronapreve and Regkirona - identified by the Commission as promising therapeutics under the EU Strategy on COVID-19 Therapeutics. Both are treatments for use during the early stages of infection based on antiviral monoclonal antibodies.

The Commission approved the eighth contract with a pharmaceutical company with a view to purchasing its potential vaccine against COVID-19. The contract with Valneva provides for the possibility for all EU Member States to purchase almost 27 million doses in 2022. It also includes the possibility to adapt the vaccine to new variant strains, and for Member States to make a further order of up to 33 million additional vaccines in 2023.

A report on EU Digital COVID Certificate showed that the certificate has been a crucial element in Europe's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 591 million certificates generated. The Certificate is also a success worldwide: it has set a global standard and is currently the only system already in operation at international level, with 43 countries across four continents plugged into the system.

The Commission disbursed €822.7 million to Slovakia in a pre-financing payment under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The pre-financing payment will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Slovakia's recovery and resilience plan.

The European Commission issued the first NextGenerationEU green bond, thus raising €12 billion to be used exclusively for green and sustainable investments across the EU. This represents the world's largest green bond issuance ever.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Estonia's recovery and resilience plan. The financing provided by the Recovery and Resilience Facility will support the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Estonia's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Romania's recovery and resilience plan, an important step towards the EU disbursing €14.2 billion in grants and €14.9 billion in loans to Romania under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. This financing will support the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Romania's recovery and resilience plan.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden have announced a new EU-US partnership to help vaccinate the world. The aim is to reach a 70% global vaccination rate by the time of the UN General Assembly 2022. The EU-US Global Vaccination Partnership will help expand supply, improve coordination in delivery and remove bottlenecks to supply chains.

The second report on the impact of SURE, the €100 billion instrument designed to protect jobs and incomes, finds that the instrument has been successful in cushioning the severe socio-economic impact resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Among others, national labour market measures supported by SURE are estimated to have reduced unemployment by almost 1.5 million people in 2020. SURE has helped to effectively contain the increase in unemployment in the beneficiary Member States during the crisis.

The Commission has signed a joint procurement framework contract with the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly for the supply of a monoclonal antibody treatment for coronavirus patients. This marks the latest development in this first portfolio of five promising therapeutics announced by the Commission under the EU COVID-19 Therapeutics Strategy in June 2021.

The Commission disbursed €231 million to Slovenia in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country's grant allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. This payment will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Slovenia's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission granted €4.7 billion to Italy under REACT-EU to support the country's response to the coronavirus crisis and to contribute to a sustainable socio-economic recovery.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, the EU, EU Member States and European financial institutions, as Team Europe, have disbursed €34 billion in support to partner countries in addressing the pandemic and its consequences. This disbursement already exceeds by far the initial €20 billion Team Europe support package pledged in spring 2020, which has now increased to €46 billion.

The Commission disbursed €237 million to Latvia in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country's financial contribution as established in the Council Implementing Decision. The pre-financing payment will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Latvia's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission disbursed €157 million to Cyprus in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the grant and loan component of the country's financial allocation. The pre-financing payment under the Recovery and Resilience Facility will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Cyprus' recovery and resilience plan.  

The EU and AstraZeneca have reached an agreement which will secure the delivery of the remaining COVID-19 vaccine doses to Member States under the terms of the Advance Purchase Agreement concluded on 27 August 2020 with AstraZeneca. The agreement will also end the pending litigation before the Brussels Court.

The Commission disbursed €289 million to Lithuania in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country's financial allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The pre-financing payment will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Lithuania's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission disbursed €9 billion to Spain in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country's financial allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The pre-financing payment will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Spain's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission disbursed €24.9 billion to Italy in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country's grant and loan allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The pre-financing will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Italy's recovery and resilience plan.  

The Commission increased from €40 million to €75 million its assistance package to deploy safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and speed up the vaccination campaigns in the six Eastern Partnership countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.

The Commission disbursed €4 billion to Greece in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country's grant and loan allocation under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The pre-financing will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Greece's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission approved its seventh Advanced Purchase Agreement with a pharmaceutical company to ensure access to a potential vaccine against COVID-19 in Q4 of 2021 and in 2022. Under this contract, Member States will be able to purchase up to 100 million doses of the Novavax vaccine, with an option for 100 million additional doses over the course of 2021, 2022, and 2023, once reviewed and approved by EMA as safe and effective.

The Commission disbursed €12.1 million to Luxembourg in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the country's financial allocation. This payment will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Luxembourg's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission disbursed €2.2 billion to Portugal in pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the grant and loan component of the country's financial allocation. This will help to kick-start the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Portugal's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Ireland's recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards the EU disbursing €989 million in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, that will support the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Ireland's recovery and resilience plan.

Following new offers of assistance from EU Member States to countries in need, the Commission has so far supported the sharing of over 3 million COVID-19 vaccines with countries outside of the EU through the European Civil Protection Mechanism.

“We have delivered enough vaccines to Member States to be in a position to vaccinate fully at least 70% of EU adults still this month”, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as the EU marked a new milestone in the vaccination campaign on 11 July. She stressed however COVID-19 was not yet defeated, and that the EU was prepared to deliver more vaccines, including against new variants.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Croatia's recovery and resilience plan, which is an important step towards the EU disbursing €6.3 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. This financing will support the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Croatia's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Cyprus's recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards the EU disbursing a total of €1.2 billion in grants and loans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and will play a key role in enabling Cyprus to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Lithuania's recovery and resilience plan, which is an important step towards the EU disbursing €2.2 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. It will play a key role in enabling Lithuania to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 1 July, the EU Digital COVID Certificate Regulation entered into application. EU citizens and residents are now able to have their Digital COVID Certificates issued and verified across the EU.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of France's recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards the EU disbursing €39.4 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and will play a key role in enabling France emerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Belgium's recovery and resilience plan, which is an important step towards the EU disbursing €5.9 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. This financing will support the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Belgium's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Italy's recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards the EU to disbursing €68.9 billion in grants and €122.6 billion in loans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. It will play a key role in enabling Italy to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Germany's recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards the EU disbursing €25.6 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. This financing will support the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Germany's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Latvia's recovery and resilience plan, an important step towards the EU disbursing €1.8 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. It will play a key role in enabling Latvia emerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Slovakia's recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards the EU disbursing €6.3 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. This financing will support the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Slovakia's recovery and resilience plan. It will play a key role in enabling Slovakia emerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Austria's recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards the EU disbursing €3.5 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility and will help Austria emerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Luxembourg's recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards the EU disbursing €93 million in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, that will support the implementation of the investment and reform measures outlined in Luxembourg's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Denmark's recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step paving the way for the EU to disburse €1.5 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility over the period 2021-2026. This financing will support the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Denmark's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Greece's recovery and resilience plan, which is an important step towards disbursing €17.8 billion in grants and €12.7 billion in loans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility over the period 2021-2026. This financing will play a key role in enabling Greece emerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Spain's recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards the EU disbursing €69.5 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility over the period 2021-2026, and will  support the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Spain's recovery and resilience plan.

The Commission adopted a positive assessment of Portugal's recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards the EU disbursing €13.9 billion in grants and €2.7 billion in loans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility over the period 2021-2026. This financing will play a key role in enabling Portugal to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In its first NextGenerationEU transaction, the Commission raised a €20 billion via a ten-year bond due on 4 July 2031 to finance Europe's recovery from the coronavirus crisis and its consequences. This is the largest-ever institutional bond issuance in Europe, the largest-ever institutional single tranche transaction and the largest amount the EU has raised in a single transaction.

The Commission presented a Communication on the early lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic over the past 18 months and building on them to improve action at EU and national level. This will help to better anticipate public health risks and enhance contingency planning leading to swifter and more effective joint responses at all levels.

The EU has submitted its proposal seeking the commitment of World Trade Organization (WTO) members for a multilateral trade action plan to expand the production of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and ensure universal and fair access.

The European Commission signed a third contract with the pharmaceutical companies BioNTech and Pfizer. It reserves an additional 1.8 billion doses on behalf of all EU Member States, between end 2021 to 2023. It will allow for the purchase of 900 million doses of the current vaccine and of a vaccine adapted to variants, with the option to purchase an additional 900 million doses.

The European Commission reached an agreement with BioNTech-Pfizer to speed up the delivery of vaccines. 50 million additional doses, initially foreseen for the fourth quarter of 2021, will be delivered in the second quarter, starting in April. To prepare for the future, the Commission also announced it was entering into a negotiation with BioNTech-Pfizer for a third contract that would foresee the delivery of 1.8 billion doses of vaccine over the period of 2021 to 2023.

The Commission mobilised €123 million from Horizon Europe, the EU research and innovation programme, for urgent research into coronavirus variants. This first emergency funding under Horizon Europe adds to a range of EU-funded research and innovation actions to fight the coronavirus and contributes to the Commission's activities in preventing and responding to the impact of coronavirus variants.

The Commission introduced the principles of reciprocity and proportionality as new criteria to be considered for authorising exports under the transparency and authorisation mechanism for COVID-19 vaccine exports. This system has significantly improved the transparency of exports. Nevertheless, the objective to ensure timely access to COVID-19 vaccines for EU citizens is still not met.

The Commission proposed to create a Digital Green Certificate to facilitate safe free movement inside the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Digital Green Certificate will be a proof that a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, received a negative test result or recovered from COVID-19. It will be available, free of charge, in digital or paper format. It will include a QR code to ensure security and authenticity of the certificate. The Commission will build a gateway to ensure all certificates can be verified across the EU, and support EU countries in the technical implementation of certificates.

€9 billion were disbursed to seven EU countries in the fifth instalment of financial support under the SURE instrument. Czechia received €1 billion, Spain €2.87 billion, Croatia €510 million, Italy €3.87 billion, Lithuania €302 million, Malta €123 million and Slovakia €330 million. These loans will assist EU countries in addressing sudden increases in public expenditure to preserve employment. To date, 16 EU countries have received a total of €62.5 billion under the SURE instrument in back-to-back loans.

The European Commission granted a conditional marketing authorisation for the COVID‑19 vaccine developed by Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, and the fourth COVID-19 vaccine authorised in the EU.

The Commission extended until the end of June the transparency and authorisation mechanism for COVID-19 vaccine exports. This follows persistent delays in some of the deliveries of vaccines to the EU. It is a targeted, proportionate, transparent and temporary measure. Committed to international solidarity, the EU excluded from this mechanism vaccine supplies for humanitarian aid or those supplies destined to countries under the COVAX Facility, as well as shipments to our neighbourhood.

The Commission put forward a package of almost €530 million in additional financial support under the EU Solidarity Fund. It will contribute to the efforts deployed by 17 Member States and 3 accession countries (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Albania, Montenegro and Serbia) to safeguard public health in fighting the coronavirus.

The Council adopted a regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which lies at the heart of the EU’s recovery plan. It will make €672.5 billion in grants and loans available for public investment and reforms in the 27 EU countries to help them address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, to foster the green and digital transitions and to build resilient and inclusive societies. EU countries will receive support from the facility on the basis of their national recovery and resilience plans, which are currently under preparation.

The EU countries, with the support of the European Commission, adopted guidelines on proof of vaccination for medical purposes. These guidelines aim to support the interoperability of vaccination certificates, meaning the contents of the vaccination certificates is uniform, and establish a minimum dataset for each certificate.

The Commission set out a number of actions needed to step up the fight against the pandemic. It called on EU countries to accelerate the roll-out of vaccination: by March 2021, at least 80% of people over the age of 80, and 80% of health and social care professionals in every country should be vaccinated. And by summer 2021, countries should have vaccinated a minimum of 70% of the adult population. The Commission also called on EU countries to continue to apply physical distancing, limit social contacts, fight disinformation, coordinate travel restrictions, ramp up testing, and increase contact tracing and genome sequencing to face up to the risk from new variants of the virus.

The Commission concluded exploratory talks with the pharmaceutical company Valneva with a view to purchasing its potential vaccine against COVID-19. The envisaged contract with Valneva would provide for the possibility for all EU Member States to purchase together 30 million doses, and they could further purchase up to 30 million more doses.

Belgium, the Netherlands and Slovenia will become new host countries for rescEU medical supplies. In addition, a second medical reserve will be hosted by Germany – already a rescEU host country. In total, there are now nine countries hosting the common European stockpiles of medical equipment. This common European stock of lifesaving medical equipment is distributed across Europe at times of medical emergencies, for example when national health systems are overwhelmed by coronavirus patients.

The Commission proposed to the EU countries to purchase an additional 200 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by BioNTech and Pfizer, with the option to acquire another 100 million doses. This would enable the EU to purchase up to 600 million doses of this vaccine, which is already being used across the EU.