Brussels, 11/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 10 October, MEPs from the Environment, Health and Food Safety Committee at the European Parliament adopted the report by French Socialist, Gilles Pargneaux, on cross-border health threats, by 52 votes in favour, none against, with six abstentions. The text obtained full support by all the different political groups and the rapporteur was pleased to announce that “this is a rare thing on a text where the stakes at play are so high”.
In December 2011, the European Commission presented a draft decision to ensure a high level of European cooperation in health crises such as the e.coli affair in 2011 and the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009. MEPs supported the proposals on the European level early warning, particularly with regard to enhancing the existing system. Its scope will also be extended to all cross-border health threats, in an effort to facilitate EU level coordination and response. The text also includes the possibility of recognising a European “emergency health situation” and speeding up the availability of medicines required to tackle the crisis, without having to wait for a preliminary go-ahead from the World Health Organisation. MEPs also gave their support to the mechanism that will enable MEPs to join together to purchase vaccines and therefore provide fairer access to them. A clause was also added to the proposal on the independence and transparency of experts involved in the system, given the situations involving conflicts of interest that have been illustrated in certain health agencies. (IL/trans.fl)