Right and important proposals to better fight future cross-border health threats like Covid-19 together / We need a real Health Union

The European Commission has today presented its so-called Lessons learned package to better tackle cross-border health threats such as Covid-19 together in the future. MEP and health policy spokesman of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP-Christian Democrats), Dr. med. Peter Liese, expressly welcomed the proposals. "The past months have shown us that we can and must work much better together on health threats. We need a genuine European Health Union, as my group and the European Parliament called for back in the summer. The proposals are an important first step in this direction", Liese said.

The package includes a proposal for a new regulation on cross-border health threats to replace the existing directive and the possibility of declaring an EU health emergency. "This is really necessary. We relied too much on the WHO for the Covid 19 pandemic. While I greatly appreciate the work of the WHO, it must unfortunately be recognised that the WHO has also made mistakes during the pandemic. In my opinion, under pressure from China, the WHO declared the health emergency too late. It is therefore very important to have the possibility to act at European level in future similar situations", said the doctor and MEP.

The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) will also be given new powers, as will the European Medicines Agency (EMA). "A strengthening of the ECDC is imperative. We have much stronger disease control centres in many Member States. The German Robert Koch Institute, for example, has twice as many staff as the ECDC and is only responsible for Germany. More effective responses at European level will be achieved through the possibility now foreseen for recommendations to Member States and through more responsibility and staff for the ECDC," Liese said.


A strengthening of the mandate is also planned for the EMA. It will inter alia better monitor and reduce the risk of shortages of essential medicines and medical equipment  "Bottlenecks in medical supplies in particular were a huge problem at the beginning of the pandemic. When I went back to work as a doctor in March and April because of the pandemic, one of the very painful experiences was that we did not have protective masks when we treated patients. For me personally this was an unpleasant experience; for many doctors in Italy it meant that they had to die of Covid-19. This must never happen again and therefore bottlenecks must be identified and resolved more quickly. The EMA is the appropriate body for this," comments Liese.

"With today's proposals, the European Commission has set the course for better cooperation and better prepared for future health threats. I hope that we can now quickly implement these proposals together with the Member States. The Covid 19 pandemic has shown that Europe was not prepared for this type of health threat. Those who have always argued in the past that health should remain a purely national matter were wrong", Liese concluded.