Engagement of local and regional authorities in committees and task forces appointed at the EU level to deal with public health emergencies, the role of regions, cities and municipalities as a full European partner for a better and coordinated approach within the EU and the need of the pharmaceutical industry to increase its global competitiveness were the main points raised by EPP-CoR members during a virtual meeting of the CoR NAT Commission.
Joke Schauvliege, Member of the Flemish Parliament and CoR rapporteur for the outlook opinion on ‘Experiences and lessons learned by regions and cities during the COVID-19 crisis’ said “We need to learn lessons from this pandemic for a better and coordinated approach within the EU. Regions, cities and municipalities must be a full European partner and have access to European funds. It is the local authorities that are fighting the crisis and providing vaccination on the ground.”
Olgierd Geblewicz, EPP-CoR President and President of West Pomerania Region presented the CoR Opinion on the 'Regulation for tackling cross-border health threats and legislative proposal for changing the mandate of the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC)'. He said "Healthcare is decentralized in 19 of the 27 EU countries. We, as representatives of local and regional authorities, have recently been on the front line and have extensive practical experience in this area. Therefore, in the opinion, I suggested that representatives of the CoR should be involved as observers in the work of teams, committees and task forces appointed at the EU level dealing with public health emergencies, in particular, the Advisory Committee on States of Public Health Threats. Let us remember that good cross-border cooperation in the field of healthcare means greater security for citizens on both sides of the border, it means better use of equipment, resources and medical personnel."
Birgitta Sacrédeus, member of Dalarna Regional Council and CoR rapporteur on 'A pharmaceutical strategy for Europe and legislative proposal for changing the mandate of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said "Together, we can make the EU more prepared for future crises with available, necessary, safe and affordable medicines and medical devices through a stronger EMA. The pharmaceutical industry needs to increase its global competitiveness, sustainability and promote innovation and the use of new technology".
During the meeting, members discussed the 'I'll do it' vaccination campaign, an initiative of the CoR t encourage citizens to take the vaccine and to fight disinformation.
The NAT commission also adopted a position paper on 'Rural areas should not be left behind in the recovery plans'. The paper points out that the pandemic is serving to exacerbate many of the already existing problems in rural areas and that recovery plans must not widen the gap. In this regard, the paper calls for engagement of local and regional authorities in the preparation of the national Recovery and Resilience plans, to integrate the needs of rural areas in the national Recovery and Resilience Plans, the fair distribution of funds between regions and for Member States and managing authorities to facilitate and simplify access of rural areas to Next Generation EU funds.
