07 May 2020
Brussels
Dear President Ursula von der Leyen,
Dear President Charles Michel,
Dear Prime-Minister Andrej Plenković,
Europe is facing an unprecedented health crisis. While the EU has used all the public health
tools at its disposal during this time, they are being tested to their limits. Tragically it is clear
that Member States’ healthcare systems can be easily overwhelmed by COVID19. We need
stronger EU tools to protect public health, and more resilient, better funded and equally
accessible healthcare systems in every EU Member State.
Never again can we allow doctors and nurses to be exposed to such high risk and be forced
to make decisions on who can and cannot receive healthcare. Therefore, S&D calls for the
urgent creation of a European Health Union.
Member States should carry out stress tests of their healthcare systems, to evaluate their
ability to handle pandemics, as well as to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goal of universal
health coverage. Based on the results of these stress tests the Commission should propose
minimum standards which would act as a baseline for quality European healthcare systems.
COVID19 was the first big test of the EU’s Joint Procurement Mechanism, which has been
used to procure personal protective equipment, ventilators, testing kits and medicines. This
is an excellent tool which avoids competition between Member States, and enables equal
access to the medicines and devices across Europe. However the process was too slow and
S&D wants to see a stronger, faster joint procurement mechanism to respond to epidemics,
but also for expensive new treatments, rare diseases or new antibiotics.
We also call for a European Health Response Mechanism which is ready to respond to health
crises. It should formalise some of the ad-hoc tools and guidelines that have been set up
during the current crisis, such as the expert advisory panel and guidelines on cross border
treatment of patients and deployment of healthcare workers. It should build on the
stockpiling and emergency response capabilities we have under the Union Civil Protection
Mechanism. We need to be prepared to respond more robustly and with European solidarity
to a future pandemic.
For this we will also need stronger EU health agencies. While ECDC and EMA are doing a
fantastic job, their resources and remits need to be expanded and new complementary EU
health agencies could be envisioned. Alongside this we will have proposals to improve