In view of the consequences of the pandemic, the European Parliament has decided to set up a special committee on the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2023 to draw lessons from it, on the basis of hearings with experts, and to make recommendations for the future. On Monday 12 June, MEPs of this committee widely adopted this report.
In this text, MEPs underlines the importance of strengthening EU's prevention, preparedness and response in the field of health, and of increasing strategic autonomy in key sectors in the event of a socio-economic crisis. The European Union must draw lessons from the crisis, particularly in terms of coordinating its actions, transparency towards citizens and respect for fundamental rights.
As coordinator of this committee for the Renew Europe group, French MEP Véronique Trillet-Lenoir was keen to strengthen the report on key points, such as:
- Implementing the "One Health" approach;
- Consultation and involvement of all stakeholders, in particular civil society, in decision-making during a crisis;
- Preventing and managing shortages of healthcare products in times of crisis and beyond;
- Multiplying joint purchasing of medicines, while insisting on the need for transparency and exclusivity in joint contracts;
- Advocating for a common European approach on care, in particular by re-evaluating the profession of caregiver to combat its loss of attractiveness;
- Improving people's working conditions in light of the changes accelerated by the pandemic (teleworking, right to disconnect).
Last but not least, Véronique Trillet-Lenoir had to dedicate a large part of her work to combating conspiracy theories and fake news - propagated both on social media and within the Covid-19 special committee itself by far-right MEPs. The pro-European groups have done their utmost to ensure that this report does not become a sounding board for false information, but a text underpinned by reliable information and science-based data.
“This is a key report for the European Parliament and the European Union. It takes stock of the health, social, economic, political and, above all, human consequences of the health crisis, while proposing ways of improving how we deal with future health threats.”
Press contact: claudie.gilot@europarl.europa.eu
