After a year’s work, the members of the European Parliament Committee set up to learn the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic (COVI) adopted their report on Monday 12 June by 23 votes to 13, with one abstention. More than 3,200 amendments were tabled by the members of the committee and, after 2 months of negotiations, more than 350 compromise amendments were put to the vote.
For the rapporteur, Dolors Montserrat (EPP, Spanish), and the Chair of COVI, Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D, Belgian), this report, based on a scientific approach, offers not only an inventory of lessons learned from the pandemic, but also a clear roadmap for making Europe more resilient in the face of future crises.
The two MEPs hope that this report will be used by the College of the current European Commission and serve as a basis for the next Commission.
COVI began work in March 2022. Its members conducted workshops, field missions and numerous hearings. Eight European Commissioners, including the Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, were interviewed, along with European, national and international experts, decision-makers and members of civil society.
The absence of Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla (see EUROPE 13098/9) had caused indignation among MEPs, who would also have liked to hear from the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (see EUROPE 13123/22).
Ms Van Brempt regretted that the European Parliament’s powers of control were too limited. She hopes that Interinstitutional Agreements on this issue will be drawn up during the next term of office.
The report
The report voted on Monday is structured around four pillars containing lessons learned and recommendations:
- ‘Health’ pillar: MEPs want the EU to adopt a ‘One Health’ approach and improve the EU's open strategic autonomy with regard to pharmaceutical products. They also want greater transparency in joint European procurement and access to unedited versions of contracts for the purchase of medical countermeasures.
- ‘Democracy and rights’ pillar: Among other things, COVI would like to see parliamentary oversight of emergency measures in the event of a pandemic, better protection of the right to information and freedom of expression, and strategies to combat disinformation.
- ‘Socio-economic consequences’ pillar: MEPs recommend initiatives to support schools and people with disabilities, the vulnerable and the elderly.
- ‘International’ pillar: COVI members recommend in particular that the European Commission should remove barriers to the export of medical countermeasures and replace its export authorisation mechanism with export transparency requirements.
MEPs are also in favour of a “constructive solution” at the EU level for the protection of intellectual property rights.
The COVI report is due to be put to the vote at the July plenary session, when COVI’s mandate comes to an end.
Link to recommendations: https://aeur.eu/f/7gj (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)