After the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it will meet next Monday to assess the approval of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Belgium could be ready to start vaccination sooner if the first doses are delivered earlier than expected.
“We always assumed that it would be 5 January, but if the vaccines are available sooner, then we will be ready to start vaccinating faster,” De Croo told VRT Nieuws.
At the request of Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke, the ‘COVID-19 vaccination strategy operationalisation task force’ is looking at a test run to be performed this week, De Standaard reported.
COPENHAGEN
Arctic security could be destabilised by power rivalry between US, Russia, China. The growing interests and presence of Russia, China and the US in the Arctic have a destabilising effect on the region’s security, according to the annual risk assessment conducted by the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS). Read more.
///
BERLIN
CDU party conference to go fully digital. After delays and debates around the format, the Christian Democrat Union (CDU) party will meet entirely virtually to decide on a new leader in mid-January, following a formal decision from the party’s executive committee on Monday. Read more.
///
PARIS
While Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki celebrated the EU summit deal on the rule of law mechanism as a ‘double victory’, his Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, a junior coalition partner in the ruling PiS government, said he disagrees with his boss’ decision and interpretation of European law.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Brussels after the deal, Morawiecki declared that when Poland announced it would exercise its veto right, the goal was not to “block the budget” but to “stop an unfair mechanism”, adding that the now negotiated agreement was a “double victory”.
The Capitals brings you the latest news from across Europe, through on-the-ground reporting by EURACTIV’s media network. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
EFE.
EU INSTITUTIONS
Leaders to decide on compromise to unblock EU budget package. EU leaders will discuss on Thursday whether to approve the compromise negotiated by the German presidency to drop Hungary and Poland’s vetoes to the EU budget deal, postponing of the Rule of Law mechanism until EU judges validate it. Read the full story here.
///
EU sets out plan to expand Europol’s counter-terror mandate. The European Commission proposed to expand the mandate of the European police agency Europol and reinforce external border controls as part of the bloc’s broader counter-terrorism strategy. Read more.