Several MEPs in the ‘Employment and Social Affairs’ Committee, including Belgium’s Petra de Sutter (Greens/EFA) and Agnes Jongerius (S&D, Netherlands), criticised on Thursday 7 May the classification of the Covid-19 disease as a group 3 biological agent, as determined by a group of national experts in the European Commission.
In an exchange of views with the Executive Director of EU-OSHA (the European Agency for Safety at Work), Petra de Sutter questioned the appropriateness of selecting group 3 under the Directive on the protection of workers from risks related to exposure to biological agents at work (Directive 2000/54/EC).
According to the MEP, who is also a doctor, this is not the right classification, as there is currently no vaccine and no effective treatment for the disease, and therefore the coronavirus should be reclassified in group 4, which contains the most dangerous biological agents (alongside the Ebola virus).
Indeed, according to the Directive (Article 2), a group 3 biological agent causes serious illness in humans and may constitute a serious danger to workers, but “there is generally effective prophylaxis or treatment” while, according to the same legislation, a group 4 biological agent also causes serious illness in humans, but “there is generally no effective prophylaxis or treatment”.
EU-OSHA Executive Director Christa Sedlatschek replied, apparently with some irritation, that her agency had not been consulted by the group of national experts within the European Commission’s DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) and had no say in the matter.
Contacted by EUROPE, the European Commission recalled that “it is not the Commission itself which conducted this scientific evaluation” but a group of 27 experts, which determined on Monday 27 April that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus, Covid-19 being the disease) belongs to risk group 3 given current scientific evidence.
The decision was shared by experts present from the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the institution insisted, adding that no Member State has yet opted for group 4 at the national level. The Commission added that group 3 includes the SARS and MERS viruses.
The Commission must now consult the Tripartite Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work and then the Technical Progress Committee, whose members represent all EU Member States. If the technical committee were to reach an agreement, the Commission could consider adopting the measure in June, we are told. The decision will then be sent to the European Parliament and the EU Council for evaluation. The EMPL committee has begun to debate whether they will object to this decision or not. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)