European Council
The President
Brussels, 23 March 2021
Dear colleagues,
Given recent developments with regard to the epidemiological situation in Member
States, we will hold our meeting by videoconference on Thursday and Friday.
Following extensive consultations with all of you, we will discuss COVID, international
relations, as well as our economic and digital agenda.
I am also delighted that we will be able to virtually welcome President Biden on Thursday
evening, who will share his views on our future cooperation.
On COVID, our top priority is to speed up vaccination campaigns across the EU. To this
end, the ongoing work to boost vaccine production, increase vaccine deliveries and
ensure more transparency and predictability of supplies should be intensified. In
addition, we will address COVID certificates and the international dimension.
On international matters, we want to defend our interests, uphold our values and
actively contribute to shaping the global future. Our unity is a precondition to asserting
our influence. As regards Russia, I propose to have an information point and will share
with you the outcome of my latest contacts with President Putin in advance of a more
strategic debate on the matter at our next physical European Council meeting.
In relation to the Eastern Mediterranean, we will consider, with a view to our meeting in
June, stepping up our engagement with Turkey in a phased, conditional and reversible
manner.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made the case for our digital transition even stronger, and
the need for a resilient European industry more acute. It has also shown us, once again,
how crucial the Single Market is to our economies. We will further develop our approach
on these issues following our discussions last autumn. On digital we want to strengthen
our ambition. We aim to strike the right balance between building our digital sovereignty
and maintaining an open economy, while ensuring that nobody is left behind.
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