More effective EU actions are needed in case of a health emergency

At the plenary session today Members of the European Parliament held a debate on the EU4Health Program. The program opens a new chapter in EU health policy with the aim to enable the European Union in close cooperation with the Member States to protect the health of European citizens in the future and to contribute to the improvement of the citizens’ healthcare.

Fidesz MEP Edina Tóth in her plenary speech said: “The current pandemic is a health crisis that has an unprecedented adverse effect on our society and lessons need to be learned in order to come out of this crisis stronger. The EU4Health Program makes all this possible. The EU must step up its coordination activities in order to be able to respond effectively to any health emergency issues, while fully respecting the competences of the Member States”.

“The implementation of the program must not be characterized by its extreme slowness just as the EU coordinated joint procurement that ended in failure. It would be important that we act effectively in favour to support the necessary transformation of healthcare systems, the fight against cancer, the problems caused by medicine shortages and the development of digital healthcare”, emphasized Edina Tóth in her speech.