Welcome to the Brussels edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what’s important at the heart of the European Union.
European solidarity will take center stage in Brussels today, where EU leaders are gathering for a second day of summit meetings. The block’s system for making it easy for people vaccinated against coronavirus to travel is threatens to collapse after Italy and Greece imposed their own rules for fear of the Omicron variant. Heads of State and Government plan to urge nations to coordinate their travel and avoid steps that would “disproportionately impede” freedom of movement within or into the EU, according to the latest draft of their joint communique that we have seen. And despite pressure, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is expected to refuse to change the country’s rules, we were told. There is also no uniform approach to other items on the summit’s agenda. Leading EU states are resisting an attempt to draft it specific penalties and other penalties against Russia for invading Ukraine. In the energy sector, there is a dispute over whether the EU has tools to address the current situation Price crisis.
