The European Commission and the President of the European Council launched in mid-April a joint European Roadmap. It is an exit strategy with recommendations to Member States.
The joint European roadmap aims to protect public health, through a coordinated common European lifting of containment measures.
Roadmap key actions:
- Three main sets of criteria for Member States to decide if it is time to relax the confinement, such as Sufficient health system capacity, in terms of providing protective equipment and access to care; Appropriate monitoring capacity, including large-scale testing capacity to for example quickly detect and isolate infected persons.
- A European approach based on common principles to coordinate EU countries when gradually lifting restrictive measures
- Accompanying measures to gradually lift the existing confinement measures, including measures relevant for the social services sector:
- Development and ramping up of sustained COVID-19 diagnostic capacity in community care structures and decentralised testing facilities, accessible for all risk groups and carers of vulnerable individuals.
- set-up of adequate testing schemes, prioritising the application of tests to for example elderly at care homes.
- Set of Recommendations to guide Member States in their gradual lifting of containment measures, as protecting vulnerable groups for longer and continuing the efforts to prevent the spread of the virus.
What are the next steps?
The Commission will develop a recovery plan, which will include a re-worked proposal for the next long-term EU budget (Multiannual Financial Framework) and an updated Commission Work Programme for 2020.
The full Joint European Roadmap is available here.
A Factsheet is available here.
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