Debate: Coordination of Member States’ measures in light of increasing cases of COVID- in the EU
Date: MONDAY, 22 NOVEMBER 2021
Speaker: Stella Kyriakides
Language: EN

Vaccination works and remains the most effective tool we have to keep people safe. There is no doubt that they are effective against severe disease and hospitalisation, and protect against loss of life. Even with the dominant Delta variant, with its increased transmissibility and severity, deaths continue to be prevented due to the effective vaccines authorised for use in the EU, and this is all backed by scientific evidence. Numerous people across the EU, young and old, would have been in a much worse-off situation had it not been for the record roll-out of vaccination programmes against COVID-19. But now we are facing a pandemic mainly driven by the unvaccinated. The rising numbers are, unfortunately, fuelling vaccine hesitancy, and we all need to take a firm stand against this. All of you, the honourable Members of this Parliament, can play a crucial role in this effort. Vaccination continues to be the key weapon in our armoury, but at the same time, until sufficient vaccination high rates have been reached and the situation is under control, it is important that non-pharmaceutical interventions remain in place where needed. We have already reached out to all those countries most severely affected, which are also the lowest with the vaccine uptake. We’re offering direct support, together with ECDC, to help them combat misinformation and boost vaccine uptake. We welcome your help and collaboration in all those countries. We’re also providing urgent support through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism for those most under pressure. Many Member States have started to reintroduce certain restrictive measures, relying often on the EU Digital COVID Certificate, to allow safe access to public areas. The use of the certificate is, I would dare to say, a success story, not only because it has allowed us to travel and interact again, to reopen the European Union and to restart our economies, but more than that, the EU Digital COVID Certificate has been the meeting point at which Member States and the Commission have collaborated and delivered the largest interoperable digital COVID certificate system in the world. We need to avoid fragmentation, and for this, strong coordination is key. That is why we are currently preparing an update of the Council recommendations related to free movement within the EU. The proposal to be adopted this week will promote and acknowledge the important role of the EU Digital COVID Certificate that travellers nowadays carry, and we will also update the recommendation on travel into the EU from around the world. Honourable Members, close collaboration and coordination are absolutely essential – and these are not just words. We know this, at every step of this journey. We have been making our utmost efforts since the beginning of this pandemic. We cannot impose coordination in an area where the competence lies with Member States. In the area of health, it takes not only two to be able to coordinate together, but 27. In the context of the European Health Union, we have proposed a stronger health security committee, a body which has played a crucial role in the pandemic – but we need to strengthen it. We need rapid agreement on the proposals towards the European Health Union, and I am very glad that the negotiations on a new regulation on cross-border health threats started last week. We have expectations which are high for this regulation, so let’s ensure our ambition remains intact throughout the negotiations, because together we can ensure that the EU is better prepared for the future, and setting up HERA has this in mind. HERA now manages all joint procurements on therapeutics and is working with companies and countries participating already in the Joint Procurement Agreement to ensure access to promising therapeutics. Let me finish by stressing an important point. I would have wished that we were standing here today and I was addressing you and not speaking again about the difficult situation that most Member States find themselves in. But we are in this situation and we need to deal with it, and we need to be proactive to coordinating and supporting a Member State’s response in every single area, from emergency relief to free movement. We need a strong centre of disease prevention and control, a strong HERA, a strong EMA. But we need this within a strong European Health Union, and this is the only way, by reaching political agreement on our proposals, that we will be able to move forward as soon as possible. This is the only way that we are going to be able to build a Union that is better prepared, more resilient and more responsive in the face of future crises.