The EU Member States and the European Commission have agreed on how they will organise themselves in Geneva for the negotiation, under the auspices of the WHO, of an agreement or other international instrument on prevention, preparedness and response to future pandemics, to be concluded by 2024, as well as consequential amendments to the International Health Regulations.
Maintaining leadership in strengthening the global health architecture to improve global governance as well as accelerating global immunisation remains the European Commission’s ambition, as evidenced by the external part of the Communication on ‘EU preparedness and response to Covid-19 in the future’, which it adopted on Wednesday 27 April.
It is the Commission that negotiates this future international agreement on behalf of the EU, while respecting the respective competences, for which an intergovernmental body was set up at the end of 2021 (see EUROPE 12844/2). Negotiations started in March (see EUROPE 12921/16, 12903/21).
“Now that vaccine supply is no longer an issue, let’s focus on global immunisation”, the Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyirakides, said on Wednesday, presenting the communication to the press. Millions of doses had to be destroyed in low-income third countries, especially in Africa, because they were delivered too close to the expiry date or without syringes.
The EU has invested more than €1 billion to strengthen health systems in Africa, including support for local vaccine manufacturing, the Commission communication says.
With regard to the future international agreement on future pandemics, the EU27 ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) validated, on Wednesday, the organisational arrangements required for the continuation of the international negotiations promoted by the EU and for which it has long wanted to see lead to a legally binding international treaty (see EUROPE 12842/2, 12714/12).
In its decision to open the negotiations, the EU Council had asked to define the practical modalities that will apply to the negotiation process in Geneva, and the Commission has been working on this. The ambassadors endorsed the Commission’s suggestions, which had been previously agreed upon in the EU Council’s Working Party on Public Health.
It is thus understood that the EU Council Presidency will express the positions of the EU27 on matters falling within the competence of the Member States.
The European Commission will consult the EU Council’s Working Party on Public Health, keep it regularly informed and allow its members a reasonable period of time to formulate opinions and advice.
To facilitate cooperation between the Commission and the Member States in Geneva, the Commission and the Member States will jointly chair the coordination meetings.
It is also foreseen that, after consultation with the Member States, the Commission may invite experts from the Member States if there is a need for specific expertise.
The next negotiation meeting is scheduled to take place before 1 August, but no specific date has yet been set. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)