“The COVID19 pandemic has shown how fragile our health systems are. We need to substantially strengthen our healthcare systems and develop the EU’s emergency and disaster response capacities. The vote to set up a European Health Emergency Mechanism is a step in the right direction.” Birgitta Sacrédeus, welcomed the adoption of her Opinion by the Commission for Natural Resources which is responsible for public health policy.
The rapporteur said the European Committee of the Regions proposed to set up a Health Emergency Mechanism to ensure effective cooperation and coordination at EU, national, regional and local level, to coordinate distribution of medical equipment and to improve essential medical supply across Europe, among other things. Explaining the need of the mechanism Sacrédeus said “We need the right mechanism when crisis like the COVID-19 occur. We have to be able to handle these emergencies. This is why we proposed an EU Emergency Mechanism because we believe that more cooperation on health is needed across villages, cities and regions.”