The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, held talks by telephone early in the afternoon of Wednesday 25 March with twenty-five industrialists specialising in the production of ventilators, medical devices as well as representatives from the automotive and aeronautical industries.
The discussion, which lasted an hour and a half, focused on how to increase the production of different medical devices. There was, notably, the question of the reuse of ventilators withdrawn from the market and the increased sharing of certain intellectual property. Interestingly, most of the companies present were said to have been in favour of existing producers increasing production rather than converting production lines, for example, in the automotive or aeronautical industries, because of the time this would require. Moreover, they said that such conversions would "not always be successful".
In addition, companies welcomed the Commission's intention to delay the entry into force of the Medical Devices Regulation by one year and emphasised the need for European coordination. The Commission is working on a proposal to postpone the entry into force of the new Medical Devices Regulation by one year. The proposal is expected to be presented in early April, before coming into force at the end of May. The aim is to relieve pressure on national authorities and industries and allow them to focus fully on urgent priorities related to the coronavirus crisis, we are told.
200 million masks
On Thursday 26 March, during his address to the European Parliament plenary session (see other news), European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič stressed the need to map the current needs for medical equipment. The Commissioner mentioned some figures from some preliminary analyses: 200 million masks and 30,000 respirators. These figures are provisional, we were told internally, and will be subject to rapid change. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)