Debate: The EU’s public health strategy post-COVID-
Date: WEDNESDAY, 8 JULY 2020
Speaker: Stella Kyriakides
Language: EN

A number of you have said that no Member State can cope with this on their own, and I think that we have all seen this. Some of you have also mentioned the issue of subsidiarity, and I want here to be absolutely clear. Even within Article 168 as it stands now, there is a great deal that we can do. In EU4Health all the actions that are promoted are within Article 168, so there is a great deal that we can do and it is still a game changer for health within the EU.  Ms Trillet-Lenoir used the word tragedy. She said that and I immediately shared that feeling with her because for myself in the last five months, if I may say this, it has never been just about numbers, it has never been about waking up every day and being told about the numbers of new cases and the numbers who lost their lives because behind every number there is a story, there is a person. So yes, we have been seeing a lot of personal stories and tragedies in the last months and we need to do something. We have already mentioned that part of our vision and ambition is changing ECDC and EMA and strengthening our agencies.  As Ms de Sutter has said, prevention is part of EU4Health – prevention, the issue of One Health, the issue of looking at non-communicable diseases as well, and really stepping up on promotion and prevention and building up the resilience of health systems. These are part and parcel of the objectives of EU4Health.  Ms Konečná said that we have an unprecedented situation, and this is why we need an out-of-the-box and unprecedented solution. This is what EU4Health is: an ambitious and innovative proposal that can be a paradigm shift within the EU.  Ms Rondinelli said our European strategy is possibly too ambitious and not realistic. I agree with her that it is ambitious, she is right, but it is realistic and it has to be ambitious if we’re going to be able to make a difference to the lives of European citizens. It is a dedicated programme for the next seven years.  You spoke of better coordination that we need at all levels and of course we must ensure that working together the European Union remains as one of the healthiest regions of the world, so we need to look at it in that way and as a matter of protecting human and patients’ rights as you have said. You mentioned the budget. Yes, we are aware that there are issues with this and we’re looking at it with our legal department, but we do depend on you to support the MMF so that we can move forward and, of course, Next Generation EU because only by doing this are we going to be able to move forward with programmes which are ambitious and innovative such as EU4Health. Last, but not least, Mr López mentioned the issue of health systems’ resilience. This is included in EU4Health, and I also want to tell you that the issue of stress tests are going to be included in next week’s communication. So all in all, you have touched on very many issues which are already in the programme. The way we are working as a Commission,  we are working very closely now going forward with the European vaccine strategy because we are very aware that the virus is still circulating amongst us and no one is safe until everyone is safe.  So with that I want to thank you for your input in today’s debates and I look forward to really working very closely with the European Parliament at all levels throughout this process of change that we need to do.