On Wednesday, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety adopted its report on the programme for the EU’s action in the health sector, the so-called “EU4Health Programme” with 74 votes to 5 and 1 abstention.

MEPs want to raise the budget for the programme to EUR 9.4 billion, as originally proposed by the Commission, to enhance health promotion and make health systems more resilient across the EU. COVID-19 has shown that the EU is in urgent need of an ambitious EU health programme to ensure that European health systems can face future health threats. This is not possible if the budget is reduced to EUR 1.7 billion as proposed by member states.

To reach the programme’s objectives, the report proposes, inter alia, to:

• focus more on disease prevention
• reduce health inequalities
• digitalise healthcare through the creation and application of the European eHealth Record
• address resistance to vaccination in the EU
• strengthen the European Union’s fight against cancer in synergy with the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan
• prevent and manage chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes
• take more specific actions to address medicine shortages and make better use of antimicrobials, such as antibiotics
• promote health by addressing health risks — such as the harmful use of alcohol and tobacco.

To ensure it is implemented effectively, MEPs propose to set up a Steering Group consisting of independent experts in the field of public health.

MEPs also want to increase cooperation at EU level to improve readiness in case of a health crisis. They call for the mandates of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to be strengthened.

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After the vote, Parliament’s rapporteur Cristian-Silviu Buşoi (EPP, Romania) said: “The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the need for well-defined and adequately-financed health instruments as well as for boosting innovation and investing more in health in general. It will be crucial to increase funding for the EU4Health Programme to €9.4 billion, as proposed by the Commission in May, in order to have the capacity to deal with future pandemics and health threats, and to make our health systems more resilient.”

Next steps

Parliament is expected to vote on this report at the latest during the 11-12 November plenary session, after which Parliament is ready to start negotiations with member states so that the programme can be implemented from the beginning of 2021.

Background

On 28 May 2020, the Commission put forward a new stand-alone EU4Health Programme for 2021-2027 as part of the Recovery Plan to build resilient health systems in the EU by tackling cross-border health threats, making medicines available and affordable, and strengthening health systems. The Health Programme was previously under the initial EU long-term budget 2021-2027 as one element of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).

Despite a gradual increase in asylum applications since the initial easing of travel restrictions, August saw just over 40 000 registered, almost 40% fewer than in January.

Figures released by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) show that the impact of COVID-19 restrictive measures remains evident across the EU+ . Data show that asylum applications in August were down slightly from July (almost 43 000 applications), and significantly below pre-COVID levels. In January 2020, 65 692 applications were registered.  

Since the beginning of 2020, 295 075 applications for international protection have been lodged in the EU+, a 31% decrease compared to the same period in 2019. This indicates that reduced mobility and pandemic emergency measures are still affecting the number of applications being lodged with national asylum authorities.

In August, Syrians (5 394; 13% of total) and Afghans (3 800; 10% of total) continued to lodge the most applications for international protection, followed by Venezuelans (3 600; 9% of total) and Colombians (3 300; 7% of total), but EASO analyses suggest that these applicants are not newly arrived to the EU+. Colombians and Peruvians were the only prominent citizenships lodging more applications so far this year. Other citizenships are universally lodging fewer applications due to the pandemic.

In August, 26% of applications received a positive decision, while in July only 23% received international protection. Overall, the recognition rate between January and August 2020 stands at 31%.

Despite the challenges, and because of new working arrangements in place, EU+ asylum authorities have been able to issue more first-instance decisions (over 43 200 in August) than there were applications lodged, which means that even in these difficult times, the backlog is being reduced.

The current public health situation makes it extremely difficult to make accurate forecasts about the EU+ asylum situation in the coming months. Nevertheless, the recent return of restrictive measures in some EU+ countries and the intra-EU travel restrictions in place are likely to also limit mobility for those in need of protection. Asylum applications are thus expected to remain at lower levels than in recent times. 

Any further information may be obtained from the European Asylum Support Office on the following email address: press@easo.europa.eu

I look forward to welcoming you to our upcoming European Council meeting on 15-16 October. We will meet in a difficult context. We are seeing COVID infections rise and we have a number of pressing issues on our agenda, including our relations with the United Kingdom.

The European Council will start on Thursday afternoon at 3pm with our traditional exchange of views with European Parliament President, David Sassoli.

We will then move on to EU-UK negotiations together with Michel Barnier. It is in the interests of both sides to have an agreement in place before the end of the transition period. This cannot, however, happen at any price. The coming days are decisive. I will invite our negotiator to update us on the latest developments. Key issues include, in particular, the level playing field, fisheries and governance.

Over dinner, we will hold an orientation debate on how to achieve our climate ambition. Last December we agreed on the objective of a climate-neutral EU by 2050. We now need to increase our emissions reduction target for 2030 to make sure we can achieve that ambition. The Commission has proposed a new target of at least 55% by 2030. I would like us to have a constructive debate on the issue, so as to pave the way for an agreement by the end of the year.

On Friday, we will reconvene for a strategic discussion on our relations with Africa, with a view to our upcoming meeting with African Union Leaders. Our objective is to renew and deepen our political relations, taking them to a higher level, based on mutual respect and the willingness to accommodate each other’s interests.

After our discussion on EU-Africa relations, we will address other foreign policy issues that require our attention.

Lastly, on COVID-19, we will address two issues. We will take stock of the coordination efforts undertaken at EU level, after the adoption of the Council recommendation on the restriction of free movement and receive an update from Commission President von der Leyen on vaccines. We will then discuss the next steps to take.

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Today the Council appointed new Heads of Mission for the European Union Police Mission for the Palestinian Territories (EUPOL COPPS) and the European Union Border Assistance Mission for the Rafah Crossing Point (EUBAM Rafah).

Nataliya Apostolova was appointed Head of Mission of EUPOL COPPS and will hold the position until 30 June 2021. Nataliya Apostolova is an experienced Bulgarian diplomat who has served for over 25 years in her national diplomatic administration and in the European External Action Service. From 2010 until now she has held senior posts in Egypt – as deputy Head of the EU delegation in Cairo -, in Libya – as Ambassador/Head of the EU delegation in Tripoli -, and in Kosovo – as EU Special Representative/Head of the Office of the EU in Pristina.

Colonel Mihai-Florin Bulgariu was appointed Head of Mission of EUBAM Rafah and will also hold the position until 30 June 2021. Mr. Bulgariu is a high-ranking Romanian police officer with more than 25 years of professional experience. His field of expertise is conducting border operations at both operational and strategic level. He is currently the Head of Operations – Integrated Border Management Expert at EUBAM Rafah.

Today’s decision was taken by the Political and Security Committee.

EUPOL COPPS was established on 1 January 2006. It is tasked with contributing to the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to establish effective and sustainable policing and rule of law arrangements, in cooperation with the other institution-building programmes.

EUBAM Rafah was launched on 25 November 2005 following the Israeli disengagement from Gaza, in order to provide a third-party presence at the Rafah Crossing Point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Since Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, the mission has contributed to strengthening the Palestinian Authority’s border capacities by supporting capacity-building in the Palestinian General Administration for Borders and Crossings (GABC).