The European Commission will soon receive a mandate to negotiate, on behalf of the EU, a WHO international agreement on ‘Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response’.
The EU27 Ambassadors to the EU (Coreper), meeting in Brussels on 23 February, gave their unanimous green light to the draft EU Council decision on this mandate for the conclusion of such an agreement and the negotiation of complementary amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR).
They stressed that the European Commission is authorised to negotiate on matters of EU competence, as specified in the draft EU Council decision (see EUROPE 12871/8). However, several of the 15 or so Member States that spoke emphasised that the EU should speak with one voice.
The legal basis, Article 168.5 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU defining the EU’s competences in the field of health (the Parliament and the EU Council may adopt incentive measures designed to protect and improve human health and, in particular, to combat transboundary health scourges), has been added to the procedural legal basis (Article 218 TFEU).
The decision authorising the opening of negotiations on behalf of the Union and the attached negotiating directives will be adopted without debate on Thursday 3 March at the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA Council).
The negotiating directives take up the substance of the decision and provide guidance on what should be included in the future WHO international agreement or instrument.
Thus, for the Member States, this future international agreement should cover, among other things: - equitable access to countermeasures; - timely sharing of data and information; - combating antimicrobial resistance (a topic added by Coreper).
It should also address the close links between animals and environmental health and adopt a ‘One Health’ approach.
Furthermore, the European Commission, which will negotiate on behalf of the EU, should work towards a comprehensive outcome, based on the lessons learned during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It should be recalled that in December 2021, the extraordinary meeting of the World Health Assembly paved the way for an intergovernmental process to negotiate an international agreement, convention or instrument for the prevention, preparedness and response to future pandemics (see EUROPE 12844/2, 12842/2). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)