02/07/2024 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 2 July, the German Peter Liese, EPP coordinator on the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, spoke to a number of journalists about the possibility of splitting the EPP into two separate entities: one for the environment and climate, the other for health and food safety. Although this decision, already mentioned in mid-June (see EUROPE 13431/25), is not yet final, Mr Liese mentioned a growing consensus among the leaders of the various groups. While he acknowledged the constraints this posed, he justified this “reasonable” separation on the grounds of the high workload and the growing importance of health policies. For its part, the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) argued against the proposal, citing in a press release “conflicts of competence” that would “delay effective disease prevention”. (NP)