Building up resilience to cross-border health threats: Moving towards a European health union

On 11 November 2020, the European Commission put forward a proposal for a regulation on serious cross-border threats to health. In the light of lessons learned from the coronavirus crisis, it aimed to strengthen the EU's health security by revising Decision 1082/2013/EU (the 'Cross-Border Health Threats Decision'). The proposal was presented in a package that also included proposals to strengthen the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as first steps towards a European health union (these regulations were adopted on 24 November 2022 and 25 January 2022 respectively). The Council and Parliament adopted their positions on the proposal on, respectively, 23 July 2021 and 14 September 2021 (with some additional amendments on 11 November 2021). Interinstitutional negotiations, launched in 11 November 2021, concluded in June 2022 with a provisional agreement. Parliament approved the agreed text on 4 October 2022, followed by the Council on 24 October 2022; the final act was signed on 23 November 2022. The regulation will help the EU to better anticipate, react and respond to a health threat (not only infectious, but also environmental, foodborne or chemical) in a coordinated way, at EU and national level. Fourth edition of a briefing originally drafted by Nicole Scholz. The 'EU Legislation in Progress' briefings are updated at key stages throughout the legislative procedure.