Responding positively to an invitation from the European Parliament’s Covid-19 special committee, Sandra Gallina, Director General of the European Commission’s Health and Safety Directorate General, spoke out on Tuesday 30 August on the EU’s response to the pandemic.
Ms Gallina began by outlining the situation when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the EU in spring 2020. The situation was marked by intergovernmental functioning, a lack of preparation and solidarity among Member States that could have fragmented Europe’s health system, with each state taking unilateral decisions. .
“We didn't have vaccines! Even today, I find it hard to convey to you the extent of our anxiety. There were 165 researchers who could potentially work on it. We had spoken to everyone” she said.
Ms Gallina highlighted the work of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as well as the work of Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health, and her teams in putting in place strategies at European level, including a vaccine strategy with a varied portfolio of vaccines to minimise risks.
The challenges were to develop a safe, effective, affordable vaccine that companies could produce on a large scale within a short period of time.
In the absence of dedicated funds and existing procedures, “something had to be invented ex nihilo” noted Ms Gallina, for whom many things were achievable without amending the European treaties as long as there was the political desire for them. “There is huge and untapped potential in the treaties”, she stressed.
The backdrop of global tension for the advance purchase of vaccines has also put pressure on transparency requirements. The European Commission was in favour of full transparency, but the companies blocked it, said Ms Gallina, who now views the context as different and regards the EU to be a large market.
On the political front, the European official has called on MEPs to focus on the principle of exclusivity, which has allowed the Commission to buy vaccines on behalf of Member States, minimising competition between them.
On this point, Ms Gallina thanked Sara Cerdas (S&D, Portuguese), Dolors Montserrat (EPP, Spanish) and Véronique Trillet-Lenoir(Renew Europe, French) for their support during the negotiations over the creation of the Eu Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) (see EUROPE 12888/20). But she was sorry about the fact that the Commission does not have more room for manoeuvre within the European authority.
Some Member States want to exploit joint procurement, she said in response to Stelios Kympouropoulos (EPP, Greek).
Ms Gallina also expressed regret about the international aspect of the European vaccine strategy.
Ms Trillet-Lenoir expressed her concerns about the reduced budget of the ‘EU4Health’ programme due to the creation of HERA (see EUROPE 12822/2).
“We take no joy in seeing what this decent budget, for which the European Parliament fought in the discussions over the Multiannual Financial Framework, has become (...) We wanted HERA to be removed from this budget”, Ms Gallina said. In her opinion, the European Commission is doing its utmost, although this will raise questions about how to spend the funds allocated.
The Director General acknowledged the lack of progress on a memorandum of understanding to coordinate HERA’s work with the European Commission services and the relevant European agencies.
In response to questions from Robert Roos (ECR, Dutch) on Ms von der Leyen’s direct contact with the head of Pfizer, Mrs Gallina merely relayed the Commission’s official response. She gave assurances that negotiations on all parts of the contract had been carried out by the Executive Committee and that the final decision had been taken by the Member States.
The hearing continued with speeches by Finnish Minister Aki Lindén, Romanian Minister Alexandru Rafila and Belgian Minister Frank Vandenbroucke. (Original version in French by Emilie Vanderhulst)