After technical problems the day before, MEPs on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) adopted all of the compromise amendments on the EU4Health action programme (see EUROPE 12579/18) on Tuesday, 13 October. They will take a position on the draft resolution in its entirety tomorrow. As for the plenary vote, it has been postponed until mid-November (11–12 November).
The voting session, which took place remotely, was fairly quick. Apart from the compromise amendments, only ten or so individual amendments were put to the vote. According to a source close to the issue, the rapporteur was reportedly actually very reluctant to include individual amendments in the voting list. According to this same source, this could result in certain amendments reappearing in plenary session.
In concrete terms, the MEPs seem quite determined to show that they are prepared to fight for the programme’s financial envelope before the EU Council. The draft report as amended continues to champion the €9.37 billion proposed by the European Commission, whereas the EU Council wanted to reduce the amount to €1.67 billion. We are told that the negotiations could be concluded at around €2.5 billion or €3 billion.
However, the draft text has cut one of the European Commission’s key ideas: the creation of an emergency European pharmacy, which could make a big comeback in plenary. Failing that, it calls for a “European Health Response Mechanism (EHRM) to respond to all types of health threats and crises” in its recitals. “With its own medical resources under the umbrella of a reinforced Union Civil Protection Mechanism, this mechanism will be accompanied by an emergency response plan in the event of a pandemic so as to provide a coordinated response and have the capacity to rapidly strengthen the response to future health crises on the basis of standardised information”, it stresses.
For the rest, the text calls for a revision of the EU Alcohol Strategy and a new EU Strategic Framework for Health and Safety at Work for the 2021–2027 period in its recitals. It also supports the establishment of a “communication portal for the public” to share validated information, send alerts to citizens, and combat disinformation.
One of the major issues in the plenary session will notably be the reference to sexual and reproductive health. The vote could strengthen or weaken the current text, which envisages the programme supporting Member States’ actions so as to ensure access to such services. See the compromise amendments: https://bit.ly/3lGiXWH (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)