The European Commission is authorised to negotiate, on behalf of the EU, an international agreement at the WHO on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
The Council of the EU adopted without debate on Thursday 3 March the formal decision giving the European Commission a mandate to negotiate with a view to concluding such an international agreement and also to negotiate amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) (see EUROPE 12897/22).
The European Commission will negotiate on matters of EU competence.
“Covid-19 highlighted the importance of international cooperation in addressing global threats to human health. This new international instrument is therefore crucial to enable us to react better in the event of a new pandemic”, commented French Health Minister Olivier Véran, who currently chairs the EU Health Council, in a statement.
In December 2021, the World Health Assembly opened the way for an intergovernmental process to negotiate a WHO agreement, convention or other international instrument (see EUROPE 12844/2).
The intergovernmental negotiating body met for the first time on 24 February. It will meet again on 1 August to discuss the progress of a working document. It will then present a progress report to the 76th World Health Assembly in 2023, with a view to adoption of the instrument by 2024. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)