Renew calls for more effective health coordination to tackle Covid-19 - too little EU progress so far

Dacian Cioloș, leader of Renew Europe, wrote a letter on behalf of his Group to the President of the European Commission and European Council urging them to establish common risk criteria in order to better manage the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite repeated recommendations from the European Parliament and despite the Commission’s roadmap - little European progress has been made to better manage this health crisis. Concretely, Renew Europe calls for the rapid establishment of a Covid-19 task force and more preventive coordination between European health ministers.

Dacian Cioloș, President of Renew Europe said:

“We know already from the beginning of the pandemic how harmful the lack of coordination between European member states can be. There is no common risk criteria nor a common modality for counting cases, no common cross-border testing strategy and no common protocol for monitoring asymptomatic patients. In fact, each country follows the recommendations of its own scientific council without coordination. Europeans deserve coordinated, effective and humane crisis management.

“The pandemic has moved from an acute to a chronic risk management phase. I am afraid that this phase will continue, especially as the risk of the increased spread of the virus is real. We have a duty to put in place a real European health policy and effective tools for coordination between the Commission and the Member States and between the national authorities themselves and establish common criteria for reporting cases and monitoring the pandemic.”

MEP Véronique Trillet-Lenoir added:

“We have witnessed this summer unnecessary confusion amongst our citizens regarding their travel plans. They have been systematically subjected to different rules not just based on where they are travelling to but also where they live. These disparities must be addressed in order to maintain the fundamental principle of free movement within the |European Union while at the same time limiting the spread of the virus. This can only be done with a coordinated and common approach.“

MEP Nicolae Ştefănuță, underlined:

“When it comes to health, European citizens want efficiency. We are fully mobilise to make sure that we dedicate the necessary financial allocation for EU health agencies. But it’s not only a matter of budget, it’s also a matter of methodology and coordination. There is urgent need for a rapid establishment of a strong and predictable coordination between the Commission and the Council, with all the Health Ministers of different Member States to provide a clear political guidance and a common approach in addressing efficiently the challenges of limiting the spread of Covid-19.“