Volledig verslag van de vergaderingen

Woensdag 8 juli 2020 - Brussel

19. EU-strategie voor volksgezondheid voor de periode na COVID-19 (voortzetting van het debat)

  President. – We will now continue with the debate on the Council and Commission statements on the EU’s public health strategy post—COVID—19 (2020/2691(RSP)).

  Stella Kyriakides, Member of the Commission. – Mr President, this debate comes at a key moment for our management of what is the most severe health crisis of modern times. Today we meet as countries relax restrictions and open up for travel: a chance for people and our economies to breathe after months of lockdown. But this is an opening which comes, as we all know, with considerable risk.

Whilst no one knows with certainty how the coming weeks and months will develop and while it is still too early to speak about life ‘post-COVID’ (I speak of the ‘new normal’), it is certainly the right time for us all to reflect. We need to reflect on the painful lessons we are learning. We need to reflect on the areas we need to improve and where our actions should be strengthened to protect the EU from future cross-border health threats. And we need to reflect on what the EU’s role in health policy should be more broadly, in respect of Member States’ responsibility for their health policy enshrined in the Treaty.

Next week, on 15 July, we will present an Action Plan setting out a number of immediate short-term actions to help EU Member States prepare for and manage possible new outbreaks of COVID-19. I want to be absolutely clear: a full-blown second wave is, unfortunately, not inevitable. It is, however, up to us to control it and prepare, if and when it comes. Our actions should focus on reducing the burden on health systems, particularly if new outbreaks coincide with the influenza season in the autumn and winter.

COVID-19 has shown us very clearly that a united approach is critical, but that we must also strengthen the EU’s current preparedness and response mechanisms to better protect the health of our citizens.

Many, including members of this House, and our citizens, have called and are calling for a stronger role for the EU on health. I cannot but agree, and say that I stand ready to work on this together. As a first step, we should increase our capacity to support Member States. This will require stronger and more operational EU agencies. In the coming months we will be proposing to strengthen the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, to improve its coordination capacities and its mandate to respond to health crises. We will also be proposing to strengthen the European Medicines Agency to ensure it can effectively coordinate our actions in preventing medicine shortages. We also want to look at how to strengthen our EU framework on cross border health threats.

Beyond the immediate priorities, now is also the right moment to reflect on the EU’s competences in the area of public health, and its limitations. I, for one, have, from the very beginning, said that we need more Europe in the area of public health. The Conference on the Future of Europe provides an excellent forum to really debate this, whether we need to look again at who does what between the national and the European level, and particularly so as regards threats that touch us all, regardless of borders.

Even within the deepest crisis, however, come opportunities – opportunities from what we have learned. Strengthening the strategic autonomy of our health and pharmaceutical systems is a case in point from the current crisis. With our proposed EU4Health Programme and the unprecedented EUR 9.4 billion envelope we proposed, we send a very clear message that public health is a priority area for our recovery, that we have been listening to citizens, that targeted investment in crisis preparedness and stronger health systems for the future is key. What is now required is very close cooperation and a swift agreement between Parliament and the Council in the coming weeks and months to ensure it can be delivered. I fully count on your support to take the ambition forward.

In parallel, and I am very aware of the importance, our new Pharmaceutical Strategy will be coming later this year – an opportunity for us to ensure and reinforce the strategic autonomy of our pharmaceutical sector and ensure access and affordability of essential medicines for our citizens. I have been in contact with stakeholders for this strategy over the last few weeks.

The next six months are critical. Now is not the time to let our guard down. The situation remains very fragile, and we see this in a number of Member States. Stable numbers change very quickly. A safe and effective vaccine likely remains the only permanent solution to this pandemic, but this is still some time away. Together with the Member States, we are fully engaged in negotiations with vaccine manufacturers to ensure access to vaccines when they become available. We will ensure that the EU continues to play a leading role in international efforts to develop, manufacture and deploy a universally-accessible vaccine for all Member States of the EU, leaving no one behind, and for the world. We are not going to say ‘us first’. We will continue to support countries inside and outside the EU to protect all people from new outbreaks, especially the most vulnerable. Solidarity will remain key, because it saves lives. And here I just want add that from the beginning of this pandemic, I have held over 26-27 meetings with all the Health Ministers and I am in constant communication with them, because this is the only way that we can build up this level of coordination, consensus and working together so we can deal with what it means to move forward. We need to pool resources, we need to tackle jointly the issues that affect all of us. This is the first and possibly the most important lesson learned from this crisis: we need to respond to the expectations of our citizens, ensuring a stronger role for the EU when citizens’ health is at stake from threats – threats which do not stop at national borders. And we all have a collective duty to ensure that.

  Peter Liese, im Namen der PPE-Fraktion. – Herr Präsident, liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen! Im März/April, zu Beginn der Pandemie, bin ich wie viele Angehörige der medizinischen Berufe zurück in die Praxis gegangen. Und das Erste, was ich festgestellt habe, als ich meine Kollegen gefragt habe, war: Wir hatten keine Masken. Ich musste Patienten mit Fieber und Husten in den Hals schauen, ohne mich selbst schützen zu können. Das war für mich ein mulmiges Gefühl. Für viele Pflegekräfte und Ärzte in Bergamo und in Madrid hat das bedeutet, dass sie sich infiziert haben und dass sie heute nicht mehr leben.

Das ist eines von vielen Beispielen, wo wir einfach besser werden müssen: Wir dürfen nicht so abhängig sein von China und anderen, wenn es um lebenswichtige Dinge für unsere Gesundheit geht. Deswegen bin ich sehr froh, dass wir die Gelegenheit haben, heute diese Entschließung zu diskutieren. Danke an Manfred Weber, dass er hier ist und auch unterstützt hat, dass wir diese Entschließung haben, und danke an die Kolleginnen und Kollegen für die gute Zusammenarbeit!

Herr Ratspräsident, wir unterstützen die Prioritäten der deutschen Ratspräsidentschaft und die Vorschläge der Europäischen Kommission. Wir wollen in den nächsten Monaten gemeinsam viel erreichen, aber wir wollen auch langfristig mehr europäisches Engagement in der Gesundheit. Die Mitgliedstaaten haben in der Vergangenheit oft reflexartig gesagt: Gesundheit ist nur national, Europa soll sich raushalten. Das war schon immer falsch, das ist jetzt erst recht falsch. Ein Virus und andere Gesundheitsbedrohungen machen an der Grenze nicht halt. Deswegen brauchen wir eine europäische Gesundheitsunion.

  Heléne Fritzon, för S&D-gruppen. – Herr talman! Fru kommissionär! En sak är säker: viruset känner inga gränser. Denna kris har lärt oss att EU verkligen behövs. Ingen medlemsstat klarar den här krisen ensam. Vi behöver mer av samarbete och samordning i vårt EU. Utgångspunkten är väldigt tydlig. Det är EU:s medlemsstater som ansvarar för folkhälsofrågorna, och därmed också för sjukvårdssystemen. Men det innebär inte att vårt EU inte har en viktig roll att spela.

Från vår S&D-grupp uppmanar vi oss att inrätta en europeisk hälsounion. Det är nämligen viktigt att vi nu drar lärdomar och tar sikte på hur vi ska utveckla detta bättre för framtiden. Vi ska skydda våra medborgare och förbättra tillgången till läkemedel och medicinsk utrustning, så att det når dem som behöver det allra mest. Vi behöver stärka samarbetet.

  Véronique Trillet-Lenoir, au nom du groupe Renew. – Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Ministre, Madame la Commissaire, chers collègues, nous traversons une crise sanitaire qui est une tragédie en termes de pertes de vies humaines, mais qui est aussi une véritable prise de conscience.

Alors, saisissons cette opportunité unique de tirer les leçons ensemble et de manière transpartisane.

Opportunité de préparer, en lien avec l’OMS, notre mécanisme européen de réponse sanitaire, déjà engagé, grâce à vous, Madame la Commissaire, chère Stella.

Opportunité – vous l’avez dit – de renforcer les compétences des agences sanitaires européennes. Nous avons besoin qu’elles soient réactives et opérationnelles.

Opportunité de mettre en œuvre la prévention, en particulier prévention par l’éducation aux mesures élémentaires d’hygiène et respect des ambitions du pacte vert en matière de nutrition, de pollution, de réchauffement climatique.

Opportunité de permettre aux pays membres d’optimiser leurs infrastructures sanitaires, tout en respectant des critères précis afin que l’Union européenne ne devienne pas un simple distributeur de billets de banque.

Opportunité d’échanger les pratiques et les données médicales au sein de réseaux européens de référence. Nous souhaitons les voir renforcés.

Opportunité de restaurer notre indépendance pour la production des produits de santé, la recherche des vaccins et l’équité d’accès aux meilleurs traitements pour tous.

Opportunité de nous montrer solidaires vis-à-vis des inégalités de santé et, plus particulièrement, de prendre en compte les populations les plus affectées, également les régions d’Europe les plus touchées, et les pays tiers les plus fragiles.

Opportunité, enfin, je vous le propose, de mesurer les impacts sur la santé de toutes nos politiques européennes.

C’est ainsi que nous répondrons aux attentes de nos concitoyens et que nous les associerons à notre projet commun d’une Europe de la santé protectrice et concrète.

  Silvia Sardone, a nome del gruppo ID. – Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, oggi l'OMS dichiara che la pandemia accelera, il picco non è raggiunto.

E qual è la risposta del Parlamento europeo? Una risoluzione sulla strategia sanitaria europea post-COVID. Siete passati dal rispondere male e in ritardo alla pandemia a chiudere il problema: la COVID è finita, siamo già al post-COVID.

Ma non è tutto, perché nella risoluzione di oggi sul coronavirus riuscite a inserire una serie di cose: il collegamento tra la COVID e il cambiamento climatico, riferimenti al fatto che le minoranze etniche sarebbero state più colpite, quando invece sono stati colpiti tutti, soprattutto gli anziani, un immancabile passaggio sul mondo LGBTI e sulla contraccezione, che nulla hanno a che fare con il coronavirus, e infine un'indecente lode al MES.

Però su una cosa siete bravissimi: aumentare le poltrone. Eh sì, perché con la scusa della pandemia volete moltiplicare le agenzie, le task force e le unità organizzative. In effetti i cittadini sentivano proprio la necessità di nuovi carrozzoni e di nuova burocrazia.

Servono risposte ora, non inutile propaganda.

  Petra De Sutter, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Mr President, it’s actually very sad that we needed a worldwide health crisis to put health at the top of the European agenda, but let’s look forward now. Let’s learn from this crisis and let’s ensure that, from now on, health remains at the top of our agenda.

Beyond enhancing crisis preparedness, we should also work towards a real ‘health in all policies’ approach and take action in three other fundamental domains as well. One: let’s focus on prevention, as this benefits citizens and national health budgets. Two: let’s revise our pharmaceutical system to ensure access to affordable medicines for all. And three: let’s reinforce the ‘one health’ approach. Any efforts to work on a healthier Europe are doomed to fail unless we address the interdependencies between human health and the health of our planet. It’s now up to us. Will we remember COVID-19 merely as the world’s worst health crisis in recent history, or will we also remember it as the start of a better European public health policy?

  Margarita de la Pisa Carrión (ECR). – Señor presidente, señora comisaria, señores diputados, como farmacéutica esperaba que esta Resolución relativa a la salud pública fuera un documento técnico, con detalles de cómo afrontar esta pandemia.

Y no: nos habla de nuevos organismos, nuevas instituciones... Otro intento del Parlamento para aumentar el poder de Bruselas y quitarle más soberanía a nuestras naciones.

Repiten en bucle palabras vacías de contenido: Pacto Verde, transición ecológica, igualdad de género, resiliencia..., mantras que adormecen las conciencias, con el fin de imponer un nuevo orden mundial, que precisamente ha mencionado hoy la señora Merkel en su discurso.

Un nuevo orden mundial o una nueva normalidad (como ahora la llaman), que solo está al servicio de intereses supranacionales.

Sin embargo, nuestras necesidades son otras. En esta crisis sanitaria, necesitamos protocolos de actuación claros, precisos, inmediatos que nos protejan de verdad de los futuros rebrotes, de los posibles nuevos virus.

Quiero recordarles que la Unión no está para sustituir a los Estados miembros, sino para facilitar la colaboración libre, voluntaria y, sobre todo, sensata.

Solo así se fortalecerá Europa; solo así saldremos de esta crisis.

(The debate was suspended)