Renew Europe defends reinforcing the EU’s resilience to safeguard the health of all

During the worst period of the pandemic, Renew Europe remarked that the COVID-19 crisis revealed the fragility of the EU’s health approach and proposed some key actions for setting up an effective European approach to safeguarding the health of all our citizens. Today, Renew Europe welcomes the vote in the European Parliament on the proposal for a regulation on serious cross–border threats to health.

Renew Europe MEP and rapporteur, Véronique Trillet- Lenoir:

I strengthened the legislative proposal of the European Commission allowing the European Union to prevent and respond to any kind of future threats to public health. Beyond infectious diseases, the EU isn’t currently protected against environmental, food, biological, chemical or other threats. Citizens want the EU to have more skills to protect them from health risks and they won’t tolerate any European or national trial and error anymore. We must seize this legislation to implement a European coordination in anticipating and responding to health crises”.

Renew Europe also welcomes the idea of strengthening international cooperation on health issues and to involve all health authorities in the risk assessment, as the rapporteur emphasizes: “Our priority must be to guarantee ‘health solidarity’ by reducing health inequalities within member states and beyond Europe. This is the reason why I fully support the creation of an International Treaty on Pandemics, to ensure a better preparation and a coordinated answer in the face of futures pandemics.” says Véronique Trillet-Lenoir. “ I stand for the idea of ‘One Health’ in European policies’’.

The COVID-19 crisis also underlined that medicine shortage is a challenge for the European Union. Therefore, to avoid shortages again, it is necessary, as stated, to ensure a European approach and to reinforce the response capabilities of the European Medicines Agency.

That is why I put such a strong emphasis on the generalisation of the joint purchase procedure for medical products. As far as negotiating with industry is concerned, the European Union is stronger when it speaks with one voice. This collective negotiation will guarantee an equal access, at the same time, to every European citizen. This procedure should also be considered outside of health threats," underlines Véronique Trillet-Lenoir.

ENDS