European Health Ministers met informally in Grenoble on Thursday 10 February at the invitation of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU and in the presence of Health Commissioner Stella Kiryakides and representatives of the European office of the World Health Organization to discuss the remaining challenges to the emergence of a true Europe of Health.
The Ministers had met the day before in Lyon for a joint meeting with the European Foreign Ministers to discuss the development of European foreign health policy.
According to Olivier Véran, the French minister who chaired the meeting, the aim of Thursday’s meeting was to bring about the second founding act of European health, the first of which consisted of the creation of HERA, the strengthening of the role of the EMA and the ECDC, joint purchases of vaccines and the European digital certificate.
For the French Presidency, it is not only a question of managing the current pandemic, but also challenges such as the demographic transition.
A first line of discussion proposed by the Presidency involved identifying areas where European action would represent added value.
According to Mr Véran, the subject of the cohabitation of public health policies at national and European level was agreed among the ministers. The relevance of European action in this field also meets the wishes of European citizens. Initiatives such as the pooling of vaccine purchases would be transferable experiences.
Furthermore, the Ministers believe that several areas already covered by European action can be better invested in, such as rare diseases.
Finally, for Olivier Véran, the development of action at European level addresses a challenge of European sovereignty for access to essential health products.
The French minister wants to draft a Grenoble Declaration to build on the momentum that has been created and to record “a paradigm shift” resulting from the health crisis: the development of European action in public health.
Commissioner Stella Kiryakides clarified that this was done in accordance with the Treaties and the sovereignty of the Member States.
The French Presidency proposed as a second line of discussion the implementation of the One Health approach in European policies, building on the high environmental standards that the European Union already has. A conference to strengthen the One Health approach has been announced for 7 March in Paris.
It will bring together the Ministers of Health and Agriculture, in particular to discuss a common agenda on the problem of antibiotic resistance.
The Presidency will propose an exportable “European Hospital” label for cross-border health care to pool quality practices. The initiative will be examined by the European Commission together with the Member States, Kyriakides said.
Finally, the Presidency would like to see the establishment of a high-level scientific council to accompany the discussions on the European Health Union. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)