Health Challenges in the EU in the pandemic context

Dear SOC President, dear Laurentiu,
Dear Commission Vice-President, dear Margaritis,
Dear Participants,

Thank you for the invitation to open this Conference, together with Vice President Schinas whom we are pleased and honoured to count on as a friend of the Committee.

I know that when our SOC section has started to work on it, the main challenge to our health systems was COVID-19. Tragically, a new threat emerged in the past month: the unlawful and brutal military aggression of Ukraine that the EESC has immediately condemned.

Peace and security, which we were taking for granted, are among the most fundamental determinants of health and wellbeing. The people of Ukraine are struggling just to stay alive, mothers give birth in the underground, hospitals are improvised in terrible conditions. Their communities are being destroyed and many are denied access to the basics for survival, like food, water, and essential medical and public health services.

According to UN data, the conflict has already caused 1151 civilian deaths, among which 103 children, and more than 1800 injured – and the numbers increase by the day. In addition to this tragic toll, the war could completely destroy the health system in Ukraine, which will not be able to provide any essential care service to the population, not to talk about treatments for people with chronic conditions or cancer. This means more infectious diseases, less vaccination, worrying outbreaks of measles, polio, HIV and Tuberculosis and a great impact on mental health.

We are facing the biggest humanitarian and health crisis since the end of World War II. More than 4 million people have fled Ukraine, seeking safety, protection and assistance, in a record time. Our solidarity needs to be turned into action, and of course we have to provide to these people – 90 % of which they are women and children – accommodation, health care, childcare, education, and other essential services. The EESC has also drawn attention on the special needs of vulnerable groups, especially women, children, elderly people and people with disabilities.

We are aware that this is a huge challenge, especially for neighbouring countries. Poland alone has already welcomed more than two million refugees. Romania 600.000; Hungary more than 300.000. The war is already impacting the capacity of their health and social systems.

And here I would like to highlight the great solidarity that we see at EU level, and especially the Commission's quick and far-reaching efforts. The EESC has of course welcomed the Temporary Protection mechanism. I also believe that the Cohesion's Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE) will be an excellent instrument to provide emergency support, care and even psychological assistance.

Dear Margaritis, I know that a few days ago, at the extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council, you have also presented, with other colleagues, a 10-Point Plan for stronger European coordination on welcoming people fleeing the war against Ukraine.

I would also like to praise organised civil society, who is also in the first lines, helping Ukrainian people and authorities on the ground. We need to give to these people some sense of normality and to integrate them quickly in schools and jobs.

We will also remain active and vigilant on the consequences of the war on health, food security, wellbeing, energy poverty to make sure that health inequalities are not even further exacerbated.

To come back on the initial topic of this event: health in the context of the pandemic, I would like to acknowledge that the two past years have been very hard for us all: the victims of Covid amount to around 1,880,000 people in Europe overall since the first recorded death in February 2020, and this figure does not reflect all the collateral victims, like for example all the people suffering and dying of illnesses who could not be treated because of the pandemic and over-burdened hospitals.

With the acute phase of the COVID pandemic behind us, health issues might lose their momentum. However, I think it is time, especially for Member States who are competent in this field, to learn from this terrible experience, listen to health experts and make sure that they are better prepared in future.

The session starting right after this opening will try to find answers and make recommendations to make sure we do not repeat the same mistake again and that we are ready for any further health crisis.

I would also like to acknowledge that, despite a slow start, the EU has mobilised all means at its disposal to help Member States coordinate their national response and mitigate the socio-economic impact of the pandemic. Several new instruments have been successfully adopted, among which I would like to mention the European Health Union package, the more recent European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) and the excellent EU action on COVID-19 vaccines for the EU and the rest of the world.

Two years into the pandemic, we have learnt what needs to be changed and updated. I am sure further recommendations and ideas will come out of today's conference, but let me already share with you some of our EESC insights.

First of all, we think it is crucial to improve the Union’s capacity to prevent, detect, prepare for and effectively manage cross-border health threats.  This can be achieved by strengthening health systems in all EU countries to make them more resilient. For that, we need more investments, prevention and a stronger role for primary care. Investments should be directed also to health workers, who are under huge pressure since the beginning of the pandemic.

We also need to fight health inequalities, which have been deepened by the pandemic. Better disaggregated health data would be helpful to better identify people at risk. Everyone should have access to high-quality, well-staffed and well-equipped health systems.

The European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) is an excellent instrument, but we think it is crucial to increase the role and involvement of the European Parliament, regional authorities, and civil society organisations in its management.

I would also like to stress the importance of vaccination as key element of success for facing the various waves of the pandemic. At the EESC we have supported vaccination campaigns through a special communication effort, to promote vaccination on social media, because we consider that nobody is safe until everybody is safe.

We will continue the discussions in the framework of the Conference of the Future of Europe, not excluding broadening EU competences in health through a possible revision of the EU Treaties, as EU citizens want the EU to do more in the field of health.

To conclude, I would like to recall that the right to Health is one of our fundamental values and a symbol of what the EU stands for. We must do everything to preserve and protect it: we must act in solidarity and work to the upward convergence of our health systems. We need to ensure our strategic autonomy in health. Policies need to be put in place with the involvement and listening to the voices of all relevant stakeholders, organised civil society included. We must be sustainable and leave nobody behind. Because health is public good and not a commodity or a privilege of a few.

I am sure that this conference will provide ideas and proposals to enable us to be better prepared for any future threat in the field of health.

Thank you.