Answer given by Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission
17.7.2020
The Commission is working on all fronts to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak[1]. The priority is to guarantee the health and safety of everyone, protecting people and supporting the health systems and workers while maintaining the flow of goods[2] and mitigating the effects on the economy[3].
The rescEU stockpile[4] created by the Commission[5] is a centralised common reserve of emergency equipment to serve as safety net when other resources are depleted. It aims to ensure that medical and protective equipment, testing kits and medicines are available to the Member States’ health workers who need them most. Under rescEU the Commission does not directly procure but cooperates with willing EU CPM[6] Member and Participating States by signing direct grants. The Commission is collating information about providers’ offers, also shared with Member and Participating States.
Moreover, the Commission, together with many Member States, launched four joint procurement tenders for essential medical and protective equipment[7], and set up a clearing house to identify available supplies to match them with Member States’ demands. The clearing house will use the EU Emergency Support Instrument[8] to mitigate shortages, and will cooperate with industry on increasing production, repurposing for manufacturers and facilitating imports.
The Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative allows Member States to mobilise all available funding in the 2014-2020 programmes financed from the European Structural and Investment Funds to provide immediate response to direct and indirect effects of the crisis, including purchase of equipment and medicines[9].
With the future EU4Health Programme[10] it will also be able to build strategic stockpiles of medicines and medical equipment.
- [1] Commission’s COVID-19 website: https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/health/coronavirus-response
- [2] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_20_468
- [3] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_459
- [4] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_476
- [5] Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/414 of 19 March 2020 amending Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/570 as regards medical stockpiling rescEU capacities (notified under document C(2020) 1827) (OJ L 82I, 19.3.2020, p. 1).
- [6] EU Civil Protection Mechanism: https://ec.europa.eu/echo/what/civil-protection/mechanism_en
- [7] https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/health/coronavirus-response/public-health_en#ensuring-the-availability-of-supplies-and-equipment
- [8] https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/eu-emergency-support-instrument-healthcare-sector_en
- [9] https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/newsroom/crii/fs_crii_0204_en.pdf
- [10] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:9b76a771-a0c4-11ea-9d2d-01aa75ed71a1.0001.02/DOC_1&format=PDF