The need to increase medical staff and health capacity of cities and regions, challenges with cross-border healthcare and the importance of supporting SMEs were the key issues discussed during the first meeting of the EPP-CoR Coronavirus Response Task Force.
In his opening remarks, Olgierd Geblewiz, President of West Pomerania Region and President of the EPP-CoR Group said that the COVID-19 pandemic has a detrimental impact on villages, cities and regions but it is also making communities stronger and more resilient. He said that the EPP-CoR Task Force for Coronavirus response will gather, define and communicate COVID-19 recovery measures focused on a sustainable economic and social recovery that reach Europe's regions, villages, towns and cities.
Emil Boc, Mayor of Cluj-Napoca said that while the need for more investment in supplies and infrastructure was being tackled, the increase of medical staff remains a challenge. "It is important to have a system to be applied in case of emergencies in order to have enough medical staff". Boc said that more emphasis needs to be done on saving jobs to avoid shifting from one crisis to another. He added that citizens were satisfied that the EU was coordinating to ensure that a vaccine will be made available to all EU citizens.
Birgitta Sacrédeus member of Dalarna County Council and CoR Rapporteur on the European Health Emergency Mechanism said that Europe has passed from chaos to order. She added that the EU has made important steps to empower the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). She highlighted key aspects that still needed attention "We still have challenges like digitalisation in health sector and implementation of the cross border health care. We need to find solutions for the future."
In her reaction EUREGHA Director Valentina Polylas said that there is a need to assess where things are going well, where problems were still present in cross-border health cooperation such as with reimbursements. She outlined good practices including cooperation between Lower Austria and Czech Republic. Regions can scale up good practices and provide information on how to better implement tools that exist. In conclusion, Ms Polylas emphasised the need of resilient health systems with adequate capacities.
Michael Murphy, member of Tipperary County Council and Chair of the ECON commission said that local and regional authorities have shown an exemplary commitment in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that LRAs need to find European instruments that will strengthen the role of cities and regions in the field of health care and in the fight against COVID-19. Mr. Murphy, also head of the Irish delegation in the CoR, continued on the role of SMEs and the need to support them. "SMEs are family owed, invest local, hire local and spend local. They need cash not loans – the last they need is more loans and more unsustainable debt".
Dr. Horst Heitz, Executive Director of SME Europe spoke about the importance to invest in SMEs not just help them survive." We have to transform the financial support into fast, efficient and relevant tool to make sure that European SMEs can function well" he said. Dr. Heitz also encouraged to take measures to cut red tape, shape policy based on correct data, the need to invest in people and infrastructure, including in rural areas as well as to have an outlook approach, taking into account the global landscape.
Gaetano Armao, Vice-President of the Region of Sicily spoke on the importance to invest in people, infrastructure and digitalisation. "Our responsibility as EPP-CoR is to protect our citizens and local economies" he said.
Joining the meeting was also Joke Schauvliege, CoR Rapporteur on experiences and lessons learned during the COVID-19 crisis. She said that LRAs are in a good position to share good practices and share their experience on EU regulations and instruments that are not working efficiently. In this regard, she called on LRAs to share their knowledge to feed into this opinion.