From the very first weeks in which the coronavirus pandemic unfolded in Northern Italy, the Veneto Region witnessed at first-hand a tragedy taking place; nevertheless, the region's medical services were never brought to their knees or overwhelmed. From the outset of the pandemic, Veneto's authorities were congratulated on their innovative management.

“Thanks to the foresight of the president of our region, Luca Zaia, we were the first to carry out blanket testing and thus to identify asymptomatic people carrying the virus, when the WHO was still telling us that doing so was pointless. We opened large numbers of sub-intensive care beds to treat thousands of patients. Our outstanding capacity for emergency management has received international recognition". These were the words of the president of the Veneto Regional Council and head of the Italian delegation to the CoR, Roberto Ciambetti, at the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions during the debate with Janez Lenarčič, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management.

The ECR Member noted that, instead of concerted European-level purchasing of medical equipment on the global markets, we have seen a trade war of sorts develop between EU Member States. “I'm sorry to have to say that Europe missed a rendezvous with history" – he said: – “just at our moment of need, Europe's absence was glaringly obvious to our people. Europe's response was not only late, but there was an initial miscalculation, thinking that it was no more than an exogenous, symmetric shock. The COVID-19 crisis has shown that European integration still has a very long way to go" said Mr Ciambetti.