"We have to avoid hundreds of thousands of additional death through the corona crisis and at the same time avoid additional millions of unemployed in the Europe Union. That is why the use of modern technology in line with the European data protection standards is crucial", said MEP Peter Liese, spokesperson for health of biggest political group in The Europe Parliament (EPP - Christian Democrats). We are still seeing several thousands of people dying from the corona virus every day in Europe. While the figures are going down in many countries like Spain, Italy and Germany there are still critical developments for example in the UK where almost 900 people died in the last 24 hours. I am also very concerned about countries like Romania where we don´t have enough information on how the virus really spreads. At the same time, millions of people are suffering from the economic consequences of the lockdown. I fully understand the wish to go back to normal life. This is not only an economic question, but I also understand that many people are suffering psychologically. We have a risk of for example children loosing track when they do not go to school and of domestic violence. That is why we need to do everything to overcome the lockdown. However, I am very pessimistic that we can ease the lockdown significantly without putting the lives of ten thousand people at risk. That is why I am really convinced that we need to use modern technology like the corona-app. The nature of the disease is that many, many people transmit an infection without showing any symptoms. With our traditional methodology, identifying contact persons and trying to inform them in the traditional way we can just not control the disease. That is why an app that warns everyone that had a risky contact with an infected person is indispensable. Scientists that have been united in the European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT) initiative consortium European wide have developed a technology that is completely in line with the European data protection provisions. That is why I encourage member states to establish the app which must of course be compatible with other apps in other European countries and I encourage citizens to use it”, said Peter Liese.
"Anyone who is still smoking these days should stop immediately," said the health spokesperson for the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP, Christian Democrats), Dr. med. Peter Liese. For weeks now, the doctor has been drawing attention to the correlation between smoking and a possibly severe course of corona disease. Now Liese's fears have been supported in a study published in the "European Respiratory Journal": "There are many indications that smoking is one of the major risk factors for being much more severely affected by the corona virus that could even lead to death".
The European Parliament will adopt a resolution on the common response to the corona virus crisis on Friday. Even though only few MEPs are in the plenary in Brussels, all of them can vote by remote systems from their home office. The draft resolution is supported by the four pro-European groups (EPP, S&D, Renew and Greens). One of the main elements of the resolution is that MEPs ask for solidarity to help the patients. When the health system of one particular member state is overloaded, patients should also be treated abroad. This is already happening with French patients in Luxemburg, Italian patients in Austria, and Italian, French and Dutch patients in Germany.
In a joint letter, the coordinators of all political groups in the Health Committee of the European Parliament have addressed the EU Member States in order to invoke European solidarity due to the dramatic situation in some Member States, MEP Peter Liese, spokesperson for health of the biggest group in the European Parliament (EPP - Christian Democrats) explains. The principle of solidarity is a foundational value of the European Union, enshrined in its Treaties. Solidarity means that Member States shall join their forces in case of necessity and help each other.
Member States with sufficient medical capacity will be called upon to support those whose health systems are currently overburdened by the COVID 19 pandemic. The instruments provided by the Commission for this purpose are explicitly praised, and these should now be used and applied by the Member States.