Hera, the EU's new tool to deal with pandemics
The objective of this mechanism will be to strengthen the EU's capacity to prevent, detect and respond rapidly to the next health crises.
AP - Thanassis Stavrakis
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Brussels unveiled, Thursday, September 16, the outlines of a new body to prepare the EU for future pandemics.
The objective: "to
strengthen the EU's capacity to prevent, detect and respond quickly
" to the next health crises but also to better coordinate the response provided by the Member States to pharmaceutical laboratories.
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Called Hera, for “Health Emergency Response Authority”, this new structure will have the role of managing health emergencies.
The lesson of Covid-19 has, it seems, been digested within the European Commission which, she specifies, understood that it was necessary to act in concert, in particular in order to solve the problems of drug shortages and dependency highlighted by the current pandemic.
There is also strength in unity in the face of pharmaceutical laboratories which are now leading the way.
Europe wants to regain control by equipping itself with the means for the development, supply, storage and distribution of the medical treatments necessary in times of health crisis.
Operational from 2022
the Hera structure, with a budget of 6 billion euros, will not be an independent agency on the model of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for example.
It will be established "
within the Commission as a shared resource for the Member States
".
A format that should allow it to be fully operational from the start of 2022.
It is still necessary to determine how its resources will be distributed and whether all the States, for which health is an exclusive competence, will want to collaborate in it.
The initiative is in any case already cringe among MEPs who will be content with an observer role.
The text will not be debated or voted on by the European Parliament.
(
with
AFP
)
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European Union
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Coronavirus