Today, the European Commission presented its recommendations for EU member states to coordinate their phasing-out of the confinement and resuming economic activity. However, the roadmap proposed by the Commission falls short of what the Socialists and Democrats were expecting.
The leader of the S&D Group in the European Parliament, Iratxe García, said:
“We understand that member states have leading competences and also that each country is in a different situation, but we expect more from the Commission. It should lead a coordinated phasing-out of confinement in which citizens feel safe.
“We need to avoid another surge of the infections and have clear indications on the timeline for the different stages of de-escalation of restrictions. There should be a common and clear protocol to be applied.
“Health must be put first, and we should ensure that all the medical facilities and necessary equipment are available before proceeding to the next step. This includes wide availability of individual protection equipment, tests and testing facilities.
“Furthermore, the Commission is responsible for ensuring that the freedom of movement of people, goods, services and capitals is restored as soon as possible. So it should provide a strategy for how and when borders should be open between member states and give certainty to citizens and companies.
“It is crucial to slowly re-start the economic activity in Europe and this can only be done in a coordinated way. Our economies are interdependent and the access to stocks and workers depends in many cases on companies from other member states.
“Regarding the proposal to use tracking applications on citizens’ mobiles, we will be vigilant. This is not China and this crisis should not undermine our fundamental rights. These apps must fully comply with EU rules on data protection and privacy. They must be proven to be efficient to lower the number of infections and be voluntary and temporary in nature. Developers must not collect any of the data for commercial purposes and the apps need to be fully transparent for the users, as well as allow for public scrutiny and full oversight by data protection authorities