Slovenia and its predecessors at the helm of the EU, Portugal and Germany, are working to finalise negotiations on three draft regulations that form the basis of the EU Health Union, Slovenian Health Minister Janez Poklukar has said.
The desire is to coordinate the regulations in trialogue with other EU institutions as soon as possible, the minister added in a statement.
The comments came after a high-level conference on implementing innovative solutions for resilient health systems that also featured the health ministers of Portugal and Germany, Marta Temida and Jens Spahn.
Spahn said the shared objective of all three countries was to establish a trialogue with the European Parliament and the Commission. “We want actual results in practice,” he added.
Temida said it was essential that the work done by the German and Portuguese presidencies continue to produce good results and that the transition be smooth.
She said adoption of the legislative package would mark “a significant milestone in Europe’s preparedness for extraordinary health events.”
The Health Union package includes proposals to strengthen the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and a regulation on cross-border health threats.
Aside from the Health Union, the conference also discussed best health practices in the Union and ways of transposing them to other member states, and on strategic pooling of resources.
The spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus and national vaccination strategies were also broached.
The ministers made a joint appeal for vaccination. “Now is the time to join forces and get vaccinated. Let’s accept the gift of science, this is the most reasonable decision,” Poklukar said.
[Edited by Josie Le Blond]
Source: Euractiv.com
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