The European Commission will soon set a new milestone for a healthy Europe, with a series of new proposals to be presented on 11 November. As this deadline approaches, the Commission organised an online seminar open to all stakeholders on Thursday 29 October.
“Our proposals will lay the foundations for a safer, better prepared and more resilient European Union at the service of all its citizens”, said Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides. Having tested positive for Covid-19, the Vice-President of the Commission, Margaritis Schinas, did not participate in the meeting.
What can we expect on 11 November? The Commission will present a general communication, a proposal for a regulation on serious cross-border health threats and proposals to strengthen the mandate of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
These proposals will be followed on 24 November by a pharmaceutical strategy, and at the end of 2021 by a legislative proposal to create a European agency for advanced biomedical research and development, modelled on the US BARDA.
Strengthening European agencies
On the strengthening of European agencies, the Director General of the Commission’s Health Services, Sandra Gallina, recalled that the ECDC’s mandate dates back to 2004. She spoke of increasing the capacity of the European centre to support preparedness, monitoring, risk assessment and the early warning system, in particular through human resources, but also through data sharing.
Regarding the EMA, Ms Gallina spoke of extending the mandate of the European agency so that it can monitor “and possibly reduce” shortages of critical drugs and medical devices.
Also participating in the meeting, the ECDC Director General welcomed the future possibility for the agency to submit recommendations to Member States. However, as these recommendations would remain non-binding, the ECDC will remain dependent on the goodwill of Member States, she insisted.
European BARDA
Ms Kyriakides presented the future EU BARDA as a body which “will support our ability and willingness to respond to cross-border threats and emergencies – whether natural or deliberate”.
Ms Gallina, for her part, gave the example of new pandemics, biological or radioactive threats. The idea, she said, is to respond quickly to a sudden crisis affecting the health of citizens.
Asked about the financing of all these initiatives, Ms Gallina mentioned the cuts made by the EU Council in the future EU4Health programme for public health.
Citing a “drastic change” between what the Commission was proposing (€9.4 billion) and what the EU Council wants (€1.7 billion), she said, “We will try to manage this large budget because it is still a large budget [4 times more than the current programme]. But, of course, we will have to set priorities. With clear priorities, I’m sure we can make an impact.” (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)