As the Twenty-Seven face the pandemic in dispersed ranks, Brussels unveiled on Wednesday its plan for a "Health Union" to give the EU the means to face future health crises, in particular by creating a new one. agency with extensive powers.
"Faced with health emergencies, we must quickly deploy the most advanced responses, medical or otherwise, we must know the relevant bio-medical innovations, we must have the capacities to develop and store the essential components", declared the European Commissioner to Health Stella Kyriakides at a press conference.
"This is why we are proposing to create a new authority (...) It is a complete upheaval for our strategic preparation, our ability to anticipate threats, to strengthen the common reaction of the EU", he added. she pointed out.
This new European institution - the Health Emergency Response Authority (HERA) - will be the subject of a formal project next year, for entry into service expected in 2023, Stella Kyriakides previously told a few journalists.
The equivalent of the American Barda
According to his team, it would be a question of setting up the equivalent of the powerful Authority for Research and Development in the Biomedical Field (Barda) in the United States, which depends on the American Department of Health and has colossal means to collaborate with laboratories.
The proposal is part of a set of measures, unveiled Wednesday after approval by the European Commission (the EU executive), to set up a "Health Union" and strengthen health coordination between the Twenty-Seven .
Unilateral border closures, criteria and duration of quarantines varying from one country to another, divergent health statistics ... European states have struggled to come to an agreement to stem the spread of Covid-19.
“We have seen that the fragmentation of measures makes States more vulnerable.
We cannot afford it (...) We live in a world where infectious diseases can emerge at any moment, we must be ready for the next pandemic ”, insisted Stella Kyriakides.
Upcoming negotiations
She proposes to consolidate the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), whose mandate will be “reinforced” with additional funds and staff: “It will have a state-of-the-art system to monitor emerging diseases and health threats, provide risk assessment and make decisions in real time, ”she noted.
Above all, it “will be able to mobilize and deploy assistance teams (EU Health Task Force)” in the States in the event of outbreaks of epidemics.
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Finally, the EU will be able to declare the health emergency at European level, in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) but independently, underlined the Commissioner.
These proposals will now be the subject of negotiations with the Member States and the European Parliament.
"We will move forward as quickly as possible" to ratify them, insists Stella Kyriakides.