Council of the
European Union
Brussels, 30 October 2020
(OR. en, fr)
11787/20
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DRAFT MINUTES
COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
(General Affairs)
13 October 2020
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CONTENTS
Page
Non-legislative activities
3.
EU-UK negotiations ..................................................................................................................... 3
4.
Annual Rule of Law Dialogue ...................................................................................................... 3
5.
Preparation of the Special European Council on 15-16 October 2020: Conclusions ................... 3
6.
European Council follow-up ........................................................................................................ 3
7.
Conference on the Future of Europe ............................................................................................. 3
9.
Any other business........................................................................................................................ 3
ANNEX - Statements for the Council minutes ................................................................................... 4-7
***
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Non-legislative activities
3.
EU-UK negotiations
State of play
The Council took note of the state of play of the negotiations and held an exchange of views.
4.
Annual Rule of Law Dialogue
11094/20
Exchange of views
The Council held an exchange of views based on the Presidency note.
5.
Preparation of the European Council on 15-16 October 2020:
10530/20
Conclusions
Exchange of views
The Council examined the draft conclusions for the upcoming meeting of the European
Council on 15-16 October 2020.
6.
European Council follow-up
State of play
Delegations were informed of the state of play of the implementation of European Council
conclusions.
7.
Conference on the Future of Europe
Information from the Presidency
The Council took note of the information provided by the Presidency.
9.
Any other business
No items were raised under this heading.
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ANNEX
Statements to the non-legislative "A" items set out in 11570/20
Council Recommendation on COVID-19 pandemic EU coordination
Ad "A" item 4:
Adoption
STATEMENT BY AUSTRIA
"In connection with the text proposal for a Council recommendation on a coordinated approach to
the restriction of free movement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic Austria states the
following:
Wherever possible, the preferred option should be to undergo a test.
Concerning the mapping of risk areas when considering restrictions of free movement, we state that
Austria explicitly supports such a mapping in itself. However, the proposed thresholds and criteria
absolutely need to be adapted in the near future, as they do not reflect the current epidemiological
situation in most of the EU Member States and as the epidemiological situation is not expected to
significantly change in the coming weeks and months.
The Austrian position on this Council recommendation therefore is: abstention."
STATEMENT BY BELGIUM
regarding the Council Recommendation on a coordinated approach to the restriction of free
movement
‘Belgium supports the compromise proposal adopted by Coreper on 9 October, but would like to
highlight:
–
the importance of compliance with quarantine rules as well as encouraging the development
of testing;
–
the bias caused by a system which assesses a country’s health situation based on the number
of infections, keeping in mind that there is a close connection between this and the testing
strategy.’
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STATEMENT BY LUXEMBOURG
"Regarding the Draft Council Recommendation on a coordinated approach to the restriction of free
movement in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Luxembourg makes the following statement,
which should be added to the minutes of the Council meeting:
“Restricting free movement within the EU is a serious matter relating to citizens’ fundamental
rights. Restrictions in response to the pandemic need to be taken not only in accordance with
relevant EU law, including Treaty provisions on proportionality and non-discrimination, but also
with available scientific evidence. The proposed draft does not sufficiently take these principles into
account.
Luxembourg welcomes that the proposed common criteria for the definition of restrictions of free
movement include the testing rate, as an ambitious testing strategy should be part of all Member
States’ response to the current health crisis. However, the proposed criteria remain incomplete as
other factors, such as the hospitalisation rate or the mortality rate, are not sufficiently covered. The
recommendation remains too vague as regards the need to take the proposed criteria “into account”,
and there is a clear risk that Member States with ambitious testing strategies, as recommended by
the WHO, ECDC and the European Commission, will continue to be subject to restrictions by other
Member States with much lower testing rates.
As regards the mapping of risk areas, the proposed thresholds risk becoming obsolete as infection
rates are rising throughout Europe. If all Member States were to declare each other as risk areas, the
very notion of free movement in Europe would be jeopardised . Moreover, concerning the colour
code, a clear distinction must be made between the orange and red zones and the resulting
restrictive measures.
Wherever possible, tests should be the preferred option over quarantine obligations. Luxembourg
supports the view that Member States should mutually recognise the results of tests for COVID-19
infection carried out in other Member States by certified health bodies. Furthermore, Luxembourg
reiterates its view that specific rules need to be in place to protect cross-border communities which
have developed over decades of open borders. Travellers with an essential function or need should
not be subject to restrictions.
Luxembourg expects that further work will take place on the topics covered by this
Recommendation.
Given the above, Luxembourg’s position on the Council Recommendation is: ABSTENTION."
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STATEMENT BY MALTA
"Malta supports the aim of ensuring a co-ordinated approach on measures taken by Member States
in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Malta also agrees that it is essential that Member States
co-operate to provide clarity and predictability and avoid conflicting messages to citizens and
businesses.
It therefore welcomes the efforts of the German Presidency in attempting to achieve such co-
ordination amongst Member States.
Whilst the text of the Council Recommendation does provide predictability when it comes to
regions classified as ‘green’, the measures for the zones categorised as ‘orange’ and ‘red’ remain
uncertain.
The thresholds for the identified criteria are not based on science and do not take into consideration
the Recommendation on testing adopted by the Commission after consensus was reached within the
Health Security Committee. The same thresholds do not reflect the realities of the current
epidemiological situation of the European Union.
Furthermore, the Recommendation encourages individual Member States to take a different
approach towards zones categorised as orange and red. It is unfortunate that, according to the
criteria within the tabled text, in the current epidemiological situation all main airports within the
EU are listed in orange and red zones.
Malta would have preferred that the testing intensity of the respective Member States is factored in
and given more prominence and weight within the threshold. This would have provided a more
objective overview of the epidemiological situation of the European Union, thereby better
preserving the free movement of persons and also providing more predictability.
Malta also has concerns with the recommendation 21.
The Presidency has announced that work within Council will continue in the days and weeks to
come and Malta will continue to engage constructively to improve and strengthen co-ordination at
EU level."
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Council Decision on the EU position to be taken in the EU-Korea FTA
Ad "A" item 8:
Customs Committee concerning the verification of proofs of origin
Adoption
STATEMENT BY THE COMMISSION
"The Commission considers that the Council Decision should be addressed to the Commission, and
therefore considers the changes to Article 2 to be inappropriate."
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Document Outline