The European Union is expected to draw lessons from the current coronavirus pandemic and consider strengthening the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). This was the message sent on Thursday 19 March by the chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment and Public Health, Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, France), to the other European institutions on behalf of the group coordinators.
This message was specifically addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Croatian Presidency of the EU Council.
In the paper, Mr Canfin begins by welcoming the urgent responses so far provided by the European Commission “to combat the effects of the epidemic and to counter its impact on the EU economy, including the use of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and the common procurement procedure”. But he recommends strengthening the role of the ECDC to enable this EU agency to ensure an effective and harmonised EU response to infectious diseases such as COVID-19. “It is, however, also essential that the ECDC’s competences are strengthened to enable it to continuously and thoroughly monitor medical observation, surveillance and intelligence data and to take fast and appropriate response measures that member states can implement directly”, said Mr Canfin, on behalf of his colleagues, saying that this message has long been advocated by MEPs.
In particular, the letter deplores the fact that ECDC’s full-time staff has been reduced by 20 people over the period from 2013 to 2018. And he instructs the Commission and the Member States to find “the necessary resources through the existing budgetary procedures to remedy this situation”. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)