MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th July, 2020) Members of the European Parliament during a plenary debate on Thursday noted the need for the European Union to play a stronger role in improving public health in member states, according to a press release.
"In the plenary debate with Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and the Council, preceding Friday's vote on a resolution on the EU's public health strategy post-COVID-19, MEPs highlighted the need to draw the right lessons from the COVID-19 crisis. Many argued for the need to give the EU a far stronger role in the area of health," the press release read.
According to the lawmakers, the coronavirus pandemic has shown that the bloc needs stronger tools to cope with health emergencies, and the EU needs to ensure that health care systems in member states are better equipped and coordinated to deal with such threats.
"Several MEPs mentioned that a stronger EU role in the area of public health must include measures to tackle shortages of affordable medicines and protective equipment as well as support to research. Some MEPs requested that the European health agencies ECDC [the European Center for Disease Prevention] and EMA [the European Medicines Agency] be strengthened, while others argued for the need for a European Health Union with EU minimum standards," the press release added.
The European Parliament has long promoted the establishment of a coherent EU public health policy and, therefore, insisted on the creation of a separate European health program in a resolution on the post-2020 EU budget revision and economic recovery plan. Within the context, the European Commission in late May introduced the EU4Health program for the next seven years as part of a recovery mechanism to support the bloc in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
