By Tonio Borg, European Commissioner for Health

I am delighted that the European Parliament and the Council have recently reached an agreement on the Decision on serious cross-border threats to health. This is a big step forward in improving health security in the European Union and protecting citizens across Europe from possible future pandemics, environmental or chemical disasters or other health threats.

Under this new legislation, these different types of serious cross-border threats to health can be treated from now on in a consistent manner at EU level, learning from the experience in the last 20 years with many outbreaks and emergencies.

These threats do not know borders and, in our globalized world, they may spread within hours. This is why it is particularly important that the European Union and its Member States are fully prepared to co-ordinate an effective response to such cross border threats. And this is precisely the aim of this Decision.

The Decision promotes the coordination between national preparedness planning for cross-border threats to health. It also strengthens the risk and crisis management at Union level. The existing Health Security Committee, composed of representatives of the Member States and of the Commission, now has a clear mandate to coordinate the efforts to combat such threats and to address a clear message in this respect to the public and healthcare professionals.

One of the crucial aspects of the agreement is the establishment of a legal basis for the coordination of procurement of vaccines and other counter-measures across the EU. This will allow the Member States that participate in this process to be prepared for a future pandemic under better conditions that they had in the past. The Union position in case of any health emergency is also strengthened. For the first time, the EU can recognise a situation of public health emergency in order to accelerate the provision of any necessary vaccines or medicines, under EU pharmaceutical legislation.