The Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union has convened an extraordinary meeting of European health ministers for Friday 5 June. This meeting, which will be held remotely, will be dedicated to the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, as well as to preparedness and co-ordination measures that Member States can take (see EUROPE 13873/19).
This discussion will enable Member States to hold a discussion with a view to preparing the session of Public Health Council on Tuesday 16 June in Luxembourg. The Cyprus Presidency recalls that it has activated the integrated IPCR arrangements as a preventive measure in order to monitor developments in the outbreak and enable Member States to exchange information.
The convening of this extraordinary meeting is the Cyprus Presidency’s response to a request from the President of the Italian Council, Giorgia Meloni. In a letter addressed to EU institutions, she had considered at end of May that the Ebola virus outbreak required “the utmost attention” from Member States. She also wants the management of arrivals in the EU of persons coming from areas affected by the outbreak to be discussed at European summit on 18 and 19 June. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)