“Together, we have to ensure that resources will continue to be mobilised and that progress will be made to achieve universal access to vaccination, treatment and testing,” the leaders of Italy, Germany, France, Norway and the EU wrote in a letter published on the British news portal The Independent.

“We are determined to work together, with all those who share our commitment to international cooperation. We are ready to lead and support the global response,” they wrote.

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The European push for more global coordination comes as concerns grow around the difficulty of coordinating an effective worldwide response amid rising US-China tensions.

“We haven’t had a global crisis leader in this pandemic, and that’s been very obvious. We haven’t had the US step forward in the way that it did during the global financial crisis,” said Hervé Lemahieu, director of the power and diplomacy programme at the Sydney-based think-tank The Lowy Institute.

Lemahieu noted that China, meanwhile, has been “preoccupied by the propaganda element in this – the war on narratives, as opposed to actually getting things done – and by fending off questions about the factors that led to the outbreak”.

The US has also placed a temporary freeze on funding for the WHO, partially over concerns that the organisation was unduly influenced by Chinese leadership.

Lemahieu described the coordinated efforts by European leaders a “symbolic gesture in the midst of all this acrimony from the US and China”, suggesting that the EU could shift the tone from a politically focused debate on the origins and blame for the virus onto one based on science-based solutions.

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“Europeans are not adverse to an international investigation, but what the Europeans want is to do things in their proper sequence,” he said.

“First thing is to shore up international institutions, strengthen global governance, bring money to the table and try to emphasise a coordinated solution.

“Then there will be a time and a place afterwards that will interrogate how the pandemic was handled and the reforms that need to be made,” he said.

Monday’s virtual summit will look to garner pledges from around 40 nations and organisations to support a project backed by G20 leaders and the World Health Organisation that will aim to coordinate a response to the pandemic by governments, international organisations and private sector partners.

“Past experience has taught us that even when tools are available, they have been not been equally available to all. We cannot allow that to happen,” said WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the project’s April 24 launch.

China did not take part in last month’s event, but China’s envoy to European Union Zhang Ming was expected to speak at Monday’s virtual summit, where governments were set to pledge funding to research and distribute vaccines and therapeutics.

Premier Li Keqiang had originally been included in the list of speakers, which was changed shortly before the summit.

In a call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen late last month, Li said China was ready to work with the EU to jointly develop and produce vaccines, drugs and diagnostic reagents.

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While the United States remains heavily involved in a number of scientific projects around the world through its National Institutes of Health and other organisations, Washington’s reluctance to lead a global pandemic response fits with the current political environment, according to John Lee, a senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre in Sydney.

“The US under the current administration does not have as much of a global institutionalist view as under previous administrations,” Lee said.

He notes that Europe could play in important role in “trying to direct or redirect American efforts in a globally constructive direction” but wouldn’t have the ability or desire to replace America’s global leadership.

But the latest drive – and fundraising – from European leaders may make a positive push towards greater international-level coordination in pandemic response, Lemahieu said.

“This might change things … the Europeans are working within the existing framework and language that has already been agreed by the G20, they are just putting some flesh on the bones,” he said.