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4th Meeting:  23 September 2024

 

 

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3rd meeting: 12 September 2024

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2. Minutes – TBA

 

3. Roll Call Votes2024-09-12 votes

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2nd Meeting: 4 September 2024

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4. Votes

Committee on Environment, Food Safety and Public Health
Result of votes
4 September 2024
Contents
1. UN Climate Change Conference 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan (COP29) ……………………………………………..2
 Adoption of oral question to the Commission tabled by: Lídia Pereira (EPP), Javi López (S&D), Anna
Zalewska (ECR), Emma Wiesner (Renew), Lena Schilling (Greens/EFA), Nikolas Farantouris (The Left) ……2
2. UN Climate Change Conference 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan (COP29) ……………………………………………..3
 Adoption of oral question to the Council tabled by: Lídia Pereira (EPP), Javi López (S&D), Anna Zalewska
(ECR), Emma Wiesner (Renew), Lena Schilling (Greens/EFA), Nikolas Farantouris (The Left) …………………3
2
1. UN Climate Change Conference 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan (COP29)
 Adoption of oral question to the Commission tabled by: Lídia Pereira (EPP),
Javi López (S&D), Anna Zalewska (ECR), Emma Wiesner (Renew), Lena
Schilling (Greens/EFA), Nikolas Farantouris (The Left)
In favour 69
Against 7
Abstentions 10

5. Transcript – Otter.ai

ENVI Committee, 4 September 2024

Sun, Sep 15, 2024 2:05PM • 3:20:09

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

vaccines, eu, member states, question, europe, clade, floor, commission, africa, virus, health, countries, pandemic, year, outbreak, support, european, case, targets, work

SPEAKERS

Rasmus Nordqvist – Green, Lena SCHILLING – Green, Peter Liese, Adam JARUBAS – EPP, Javi LÓPEZ – S&D, Claudiu-Richard Târziu – ECR, Nikolas FARANTOURIS – The Left, András Tivadar Kulja – EPP, Annalisa CORRADO – S&D, Pamela Rendi-Wagner (ECDC), Lynn Boylan – The Left, European Commission, Jorge BUXADÉ VILLALBA – PfF, Lídia Pereira  – EPP, Anja ARNDT, Michalis HADJIPANTELA, Wolfgang Philipp (DG HERA) – European Commission, Yiannos Asimakis (DG CLIMA)  European Commission, Emer Cooke (EMA), Aurelijus Veryga, Antonio DECARO – Chair, Grégory ALLIONE, Dimitris Tsiodras – EPP, Jeroen Lettens (DG SANT) – European Commission, Alexandr VONDRA, Tomislav Sokol – EPP, anto, Nikolas Farantouris, Pär HOLMGREN – Green, Lídia Pereira, Laurent CASTILLO – EPP, Emma WIESNER, András Tivadar Kulja, Tiemo WÖLKEN (S&D/Germany), Catarina Martins – The Left, Konstantinos Prilidis (DG ENV0 European Commission, Anna ZALEWSKA – ECR, Maria OHISALO – Green, Jonas SJÖSTEDT – The Left, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, Mathilde Androuët, Adrian-George Axinia – ECR, Stine BOSSE, Margarita de la Pisa Carrión – PfE, Tilly Metz, Romana Jerković – S&D

Antonio DECARO – Chair  00:11

Good morning this I am more.

00:22

Welcome back to the committee. Let’s pick up where we left off under item one. If there are no objections, the agenda may be adopted without amendment,

Antonio DECARO – Chair  00:36

any objections, then the agenda is adopted as stands. I’d like to remind all members that it’s a good idea to speak your mother tongue, if interpretation is available for it, and the interpreters invite us to speak smoothly at natural speed, and they thank you in advance for your support. As per usual, the file for the meeting is available in E form through the E meeting application, and it will be web streamed. The Secretariat has received a series of core agenda on the parliament’s position adopted in the first reading during the other period, they have been passed on to us on Friday, the 30th of August, by email, in line with the rule 251, the parliament has to check the core agenda. We have received four no political group, nor five members raise objections by the deadline, which was set for yesterday, at 5pm and therefore the MV committee, the current agenda approved by the MV committee, will be announced in the next plenary session. That takes us to Item three, recommendations from the coordinators were circulated, and if there are no objections, they can be deemed approved. Are there any objections? No, then they’re taken as approved. Item four, adoption of the minutes for the meeting of the 23rd of July. 2024

02:36

Item five, general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2025 now the consideration of draft opinion in letter form and consideration of budget amendments, I will take the floor as the rapporteur the annual opinion on the budget is an essential step for the committee, one of the most important ones, indeed, which allows us to pool our efforts in a legislative from a relative point of view and bring them into line with the budget and guarantee the necessary resources then make sure that the correct resources are available to support our ideas as the committee. So this is about our priorities for the next year, so that we can put them to the colleagues in the budget committee. So for the 2025, budget, the opinion there, I would invite the committee to guarantee the financial resources and also the human resources to implement the legislation, which was adopted during the last cycle on climate, environment, public health and food safety. I’d like to remind you that, according to the MFF which was adopted for 2021 27 the EU has earmarked at least 30% of its budget for climate related aims. I welcome the fact that the budget for 2025 actually exceeds that objective, but we invite the committee to continue looking at mainstreaming biodiversity. The EU’s efforts towards a Climate Neutral society by 2050 is an opportunity to shape a better future for all of us, not only Europeans. And that is why, in the draft opinion, we stress the importance of boosting the EU’s role at international level, increasing financing for EU efforts aimed at protecting the environment and addressing climate change at global level. And finally, I think. It’s important to stress in negative terms, the reduction the cuts in financing for the EU for health budget, right line with the recent mpox epidemic and other challenges ahead of us. I think that this is an important aspect, and it’s has to have the necessary funding so that we can build stronger, more resilient health systems, which are accessible for all. And I annex see con the I’m waiting the comments from our colleagues now before I give the floor to the shadows. I would like to remind everyone that immediately afterwards, we will move on to catch the eye, so that anyone wishing to take the floor will have the possibility to do so for one and a half minutes. So I will open the floor.

Michalis HADJIPANTELA  06:05

Dear colleagues regarding the budgetary amendments, I call on your support to address the 20% decrease in the total budget of the European Union for health program over 2020, 2025, to 20. 2027, I welcome the broad party consensus on increasing the budget. I have been a minister of health and during the during the pandemic, so I know the importance of increasing the budget of health just before we we table our amendment just a little bit after we have seen we have a new pandemic with the mpox. So it’s important we have, as a European Union, all of our system, our system, ready, and to have them the funding available if needed. In addition to this, I call on your support to keep the union civil protection mechanism with the proper funding to be able to respond effectively and efficiently in times of crisis caused by the extreme weather conditions Europe is facing, particularly the southern countries. The last few weeks we have, we have seen everything what is happening with the climate change in many European Union countries. So it’s important as well. This line of the budget horizon European Union, which is key to our efforts to tackle climate change and become the definition global center of excellence, and the very interesting pilot project on health issue, particularly pediatric cancer, we know again, how important is pediatric cancer. I wish we could increase funding in all programs. However, we have to remain financially prudent and prioritize. Thank you very much. I

Antonio DECARO – Chair  08:03

thank you. Paso la Paula, Alexander vondra, Alexander van den I have the floor.

Alexandr VONDRA  08:12

Yeah. Thank you very much so ECR, we are the conservatives, so we are really careful in taking more public money out of the human pockets. So we prefer we know that the resources are limited, and if we need to increase somewhere, we need to decrease elsewhere, that’s not to raise the taxation. So we are in favor of using our money more wisely. We, as a group, would oppose most of the amendments which go in very different directions. And you know, with regards to the climate goals, we would have a problem even to fill the targets of 2030 as it’s even more clear, we are very unsuccessful in convincing the others in the globe to follow us. And I do not see that the medicine is to pay more for the others who are not doing enough. The Europeans don’t have the money. We are losing the competitiveness. You know, look the Volkswagen announcement about shutting down two factories. This is not the way forward which and we are not fix this with shipping more public money with regards to the EU Health Program. Yes, we share the reporters concerns about the significant cuts. However, the cuts are the result of difficult decisions made by the European Council. Which relocated more than 10 billions to support Ukraine. So while recreative, these decisions reflect our current geopolitical and financial reality, so given our budget constraints, we must stick to the figures set by the European Council. Thank you very much,

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  10:28

Gracia, thank you. And now

Romana Jerković – S&D  10:35

Randy has the floor.

Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY  10:38

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, that was sooner than I expected, but nevertheless, first of all, my congratulations to your election as our chair. I’ve been here in the past in this committee, and I think it’s one of the most joyful and and best committees to work in in this Parliament. So I’m looking forward to a very constructive cooperation with you, Mr. Chairman, looking at the budget, I want to emphasize just just a few things. First of all, biodiversity. It’s under threat more than ever before. We’ve seen the latest reports on the disappearance of insects. It’s very crucial that we as a European Union are continuing to fight against the loss of biodiversity, and therefore renew very strongly supports the amendments that restore the budget for the Life program. Life has for years and years, been one of the most successful European programs. It has always been cheered by the European Court of Auditors and by many, many others for its huge success. So I would like to to emphasize the importance of the European budget for biodiversity, and the Renew group will certainly support those amendments that have been adopted to at least restore the budget. I always would like to emphasize the pilot project that was tabled by Martin heisig on EU biodiversity observation centers, it has been rated with the highest rating, and I would like to urge my colleagues to support that. Thank you very much.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  12:39

Gracia Pasadena, thank

12:41

you,

Romana Jerković – S&D  12:45

and Maria oyseno has the floor.

Maria OHISALO – Green  12:47

Thank you chair, dear colleagues, we are living in the middle of the warmest years on record, and why diversity is declining faster than any time in human history. This all highlights the urgent and continuous actions to address environmental crisis also reflected in the Greens EFA priorities for the budget as investing in research is crucial in fighting this crisis, we require 15% top ups for the following horizon clusters on which the commission is proposing cuts now, cluster health, cluster climate, energy and mobility, as well as cluster food, bio economy, natural resources, agriculture and environment. The Greens also require diverse top ups for the Life program for EU’s Environment and Climate Action. Commitment for the Life Program is an urgent priority, and even more so in the following years, with the implementation of the nature restoration law, it’s also crucial that the European Environment Agency can fully deliver its increased tasks and support EU’s climate and environmental objectives. Therefore, we propose to increase the EEA budget by one point 23 million euros. And last but not least, looking at the current draft budget, we are worried about achieving the EU’s biodiversity objectives, the Common Agricultural Policy is a significant budgetary item for achieving the use biodiversity objectives and expenditure yet caps. Biodiversity contribution has been revised downwards to 3% compared to the previous 4% and therefore we urge the commission and other involved actors to ensure that measures are put in place to reach the biodiversity mainstreaming targets, the increased risk of natural disasters, health emergencies and armed conflicts require coordinated response and support by the union Civil Protection. Mechanism. Therefore, the greens request 15% budget increase to ensure effective crisis management. We are also requiring 20% top up for EU for health program to counter the significant budget reductions made in the MFF. It’s important that this program achieves its crucial objective to build stronger and more accessible health systems in the EU as ongoing health emergencies are showing up.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  15:37

Thank you. Pasula paua and now the floor goes to Yonas Thursday, and

Jonas SJÖSTEDT – The Left  15:45

here I am. I will speak in Swedish, so please put on your headphones. Did they are large?

15:55

We agree with the general approach that rapporteur has in the opinion, we think it’s important that we don’t carry out the cuts proposed by Council. We should stick to a higher level of ambition when it comes to the environment, when we see acute crisis like biodiversity, the maritime environment and so on. It’s very uncertain whether the EU is going to be able to maintain its promises in terms of reducing emissions, and when it comes to cutting down the programs which are supposed to lead to that, we think that sending the wrong signal. So we agree with the proposed amendments to reduce the budget to a reasonable or to set the budget as a reasonable level. When it comes on to pandemics, we’re seeing that there’s no pandemic which is being prepared. It’s important that the EU has tools to tackle these things. Various members of my group have submitted some amendments on health and also has to do with childcare, so we get support for that. The EU can save money in a number of areas, and should do that, but the area of the environment should not be one of those areas. Thank you.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  17:28

Thank you. Paso la Paula, adanya hard Anya, and now has the floor. I

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  17:50

Okay, okay, no, okay, do

18:06

so I will now open the catch the eye in which the floor goes to those members who asked to speak. Peter Lisa gets the floor. Thank you.

Peter Liese  18:16

Chair and welcome everybody. After hopefully a good summer recess. I can keep it short because our shadow rapporteur Mikhail Hachi pantala has made the most important points I would just put an emphasis why we, as EPP, with the support of many other groups, ask for an increase of EU for health. Zach fondra is right. The cutting of EU for health has been made because we need more money for Ukraine, and we, as EPP, strongly support any action to help Ukraine in this difficult time to defend international law and to defend also our freedom. On the other hand, member states are always very easy, and they do it very easy to cut the European programs which have a European added value. We think they should focus also on money, where member states have more control, so not the European programs should be the first to cut. And you for health has a significant impact, and the cutting has a significant impact. You know, Hera was doing some action to fight antibiotic resistance, and now they can’t do it because of the cutting, and this may kill Europeans life if, if they are not successful. So that’s why we also need to do many other efforts to fight antibiotic resistance. I look at Timo Vulcan and his report. But we need to increase you for health, again, that’s why we tabled this amendment, and we are happy for the support from many other groups. Thank you.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  20:18

Gracia pasola parulac, Gregory a Leone,

Grégory ALLIONE  20:20

thank you. Gregory aleone has the floor. Yes, thank you. Good morning. The budget is a real opportunity to discuss global policy, particularly in terms of civil protection. Before I joined the parliament, I was a fireman in the national offices, and I have done various missions in Europe and around the world, and I’ve seen how climate upsets have changed. Now, I think that the aim is to boost the rescue programs funds. We need that. But on the contrary, I would ask you to think about being much more ambitious, because under the last parliament, we were the parliament addressed all of the causes driving climate change. But over the summer, throughout the year, we regularly see the effects of climate change a vicious cycle actually, in our organizations, our countries and the whole of Europe. So I would call on us to think about a global civil protection policy taking on board a training for firemen, men, women, the resources that need to be included boosting certain countries, helping them purchase vehicles, also firefighting planes and helicopters, and, of course, mainstream new technology. You will understand that what I’m saying is not directly linked to approving or not approving a budget, but rather the ambition to have a genuine public Civil Protection Policy. Europe really is the place where we should be able to define and push for more solidarity for our countries and for Europe. Thank you,

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  22:11

Gracia, thank you.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  22:16

Sen Bos has the floor. Thank you so much.

Stine BOSSE  22:18

A lot has been said already. I want to echo all the people who are worried about what is happening right now with global warming, and I also want to encourage us to see this that we can do with the budget as a common investment, if we listen to what’s going on right now and look at common investments in civil protection that is saving lives, but it’s also saving money in other countries. So if we work together, we can do more, and we could do it much more efficiently and cheaper at the end of the day, this goes also in the health area. Look what covid actually cost us, had we been better prepared? We are actually now better prepared because we are more educated. And can we keep that level of education, and can we keep that level of spending? We can save money at the end of the day. So let’s not talk about antibiotic resistance as a cost when we fight it. Let’s cost. Let’s call it an investment in reducing costs long, longer down the road. That’s how we should view these areas, and I would encourage all of us to spend now, rather than leave this for the cost of lives and for much higher costs at the end of the day, I

Antonio DECARO – Chair  23:44

Gracia pastor, la parulades,

23:48

thank you. A colleague, TANF circle has the floor

Tomislav Sokol – EPP  23:53

already has a lot has already been said about the amendment, about the youth for health program, but I would like to echo definitely what colleagues said, that investments into healthcare are most cost effective investments, because consequences of not investing, of not being prepared, unfortunately, are much bigger. So in that sense, investing into you for health means cutting the costs in the end, but it’s also about sending a message. So healthcare before the previous mandate was essentially a marginal topic, unfortunately, in this house in the parliament. But this has changed. The visibility has has been raised. A lot a lot more funding is being earmarked for healthcare, and you have to keep this momentum going. So definitely cutting the you for health program sends the wrong message, sends messages. Healthcare is not important, and this is something that we should definitely fight. Also, when we speak about future needs of health care, we have the implementation of European health data space where the member states themselves in the council said they need much more money from centralized EU budget for the implementation, for the preparedness, for preparation of the whole system for digitalization of health care. So. One side, they are saying we need more money. On the other side, they are cutting this. So I think that we need to send a very strong message which healthcare is important, that it should remain one of the policy priorities in the European Union, and by doing that, definitely that we should, that we should increase the funding for you for healthcare. You for health program, not just now, but also in the next MFF, thanks. You.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  25:26

Us. Gracia Paso la parola a Dimitri seed, thank you, Dimitri, see others now has

25:33

the floor.

Dimitris Tsiodras – EPP  25:37

I would agree with previous speakers in saying that we have to look at the climate change in terms of all its effects in various areas, including health and the need to increase the budget, and we need policies for protection, as mentioned by our colleague for for example, fires In the summer and floods over the year as well. And there’s a huge issue of drought affecting many countries in the South as an effect of climate change, and that affects the means of production, particularly in the agricultural field, because conditions have changed enormously. I think we are continuing to take the conservative approach to this we’ve applied in the fast in the past, with a slight increase, but we need much more drastic action so that we can support our communities in dealing with all of these repercussions, which are affecting in particular, the south of Europe, because under the current circumstances, we’d need a much a very different approach to this in order to deal with all of the consequences. Thank you. Gracias.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  27:16

Gracie,

27:18

Thank you, colleagues, and that concludes the catch the eye the committee to members who wanted to take the floor. Did so, and so I will now turn to the representatives of the Commission. The floor therefore goes to Constantinos prevides, chairman, dear

Konstantinos Prilidis (DG ENV0 European Commission  27:43

members of the Envy committee, on behalf of the European Commission, DG, environment welcomes this opinion, which emphasizes the importance of addressing climate, environmental and health challenges and supporting the European living deal. The envy’s opinion highlights the need to adequate funding to implement key legislation in the areas of climate, environmental, Environment, Food, safety and health, focusing on priorities such as climate mitigation, adaptation, just transition and circular economy. We welcome the amendments restoring the life project. However, we also would like to highlight the importance of mainstreaming climate and environmental consideration in the implementation of EU funding programs, particularly cohesion policy programs, the recent environmental implementation review and European Semester country reports identify challenges and priority actions for individual member states which can orientate actions under cohesion policy and other EU funding programs. The EU by divest by a diversity spending target set under the EU multi annual Framework Program from 2021 to then 27 requires an annual biodiversity spending level of 7.5% in 2024 reaching 10% 226, and 227, to reach these targets, we invite the member states to fully exploit the funding opportunities in the EU programs, investments in protected areas and ecosystem restoration, amplified by the nature restoration law bring multiple gains across the whole economy and society. Our aim is to ensure that investment supported under cohesion policy and other funding programs drive the green transition to ensure the achievement of biodiversity objectives. Mr. Chairman, dear members of envy committee, we look forward to working together to achieve the most sustainable results from the program actions over the coming years, our services remain at your disposal for any support you may need. I give now the floor to my colleagues of di Clima yanos.

Yiannos Asimakis (DG CLIMA)  European Commission  29:52

Thank you, Chair.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  30:00

Sasimakis, Yonis, asima, kisses,

Yiannos Asimakis (DG CLIMA)  European Commission  30:05

thank you, Mr. Chair the European Commission and the Department of climate action in particular, welcomes the draft opinion of this committee, and of course, welcomes any support to at least restore the draft budget put forward by the European Commission following the proposed cuts by the Council. Thank you. Digi sante would like to

Antonio DECARO – Chair  30:38

see as CO intervention.

30:42

Yes, the floor goes to general Latins for DG sante.

Jeroen Lettens (DG SANT) – European Commission  30:45

Thank you. Chair, the chair, honorable members. On behalf of DG sante, we would like to welcome the support to restore the credits for the EU for health program and to this food safety as well as to the support to provide sufficient resources for all the decentralized agencies under our remit, which are in particular the chemicals agency for its biocides activities, the Food Safety Authority, European Medicines Agency, we in particular support the request To restore the credits for you for health following the cut of 1 billion that occurred during the midterm revision of the MFF. And of course, we are in need of all the credits that we can obtain. And we also need the request, the credits requested of the Food Safety given the many, many outbreaks that have occurred in recent years for certain animal diseases such as African swine fever, avian influenza, we thank you for all the support, and are Happy to answer any questions in future. Thank you. Applause.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  32:11

Okay, thank you. So thank you everyone for your input. I’m sure that we’ll find the best possible way to reflect the interests of the Envy committee, or rather the interest reflecting the remit of the committee in the budget. I’d remind you that the vote for the amendments for the budget will take place today, at 12 o’clock. The vote on the overall letter will be scheduled for the 12 September that takes us now to item six, which is an exchange of views. This was requested an exchange of views with the Commission and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC and Emma on the EU emergency response actions to the outbreak of mpox on the 14th of August, the who declared public health emergency international concern in view of an increase in mpox cases in Africa. Recently, we saw the first case in Europe and the ECDC European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, on the 16th of August, completed its rapid risk assessment for the EU EAA, with a risk assessed as a low the Director General, Wolfgang Phillips, will deal with this, and we have the ECDC represented by its director as well, and Emma Cook is here also for the Medicines Agency. So Emma, you pasola, parola al Wolfgang,

Romana Jerković – S&D  34:27

so I’ll give the floor to Wolfgang Phillips.

Wolfgang Philipp (DG HERA) – European Commission  34:33

Thank you very much, and good morning. It was created during the covid pandemic as part during the covid pandemic, as part of the European health union to ensure that Europe is better prepared and is faster in its responses to cross border health emergencies since day one, three years ago, of its establishment, hega has designed processes to monitor emerging health events to assess the availability of medical countermeasures. And to identify needs for interventions. A recent example was, for example, in 2022 here, was able to test its capacities to procure and deploy medical countermeasures when who declared a global outbreak of mpox, a different clade, a different strain, as a public health emergency of international concern at this time, have a directed directly donated 330,000 vaccines to you member states for the immediate response actions, and also put in place joint procurement options for medium to longer term vaccines and therapeutics acquisition even after the end of this public health emergency declaration by WHO, which was announced in 2023 hecka continued to monitor the ampoux situation very closely, as it was clear that the virus was still circulating, in particular in countries in Central Africa and Western Africa, like the Democratic Republic of Congo, where we’re still seeing a lot of cases, which are increasing as a result of our intelligence gathering and reports from the ECDC and other sources, triggered its internal coordination mechanism in april 2024 to assess the medical countermeasures situation for Africa, It was clear from the engagements with other international organizations, such as the Africa CDC, who or GAVI that vaccine provisions and donations would be needed to be assessed, also coordinated with bilateral actors such as Japan and also the US to share information and to align on possible actions around donations of vaccines and other medical countermeasures. But in order to act on vaccine donation, the minimum requirement was that African countries authorized the vaccines to be shipped. This was also a requirement of the manufacturer to release the vaccines without imposing strict provisions on liability. Chronologically on 13th of August, Africa, CDC declared mpox a public health emergency of continental security and called on the global community mobilized 2 million vaccine doses for Africa following day, 14th of August, who declared public health emergency with the national concern under ihr, and thanks to our preparedness activities, we were able to immediately respond to the Africa CDC core for global solidarity. Building on working arrangements signed with the Commission on Africa CDC in 2024 and the existing agreements with the manufacture of via Nordic we were able to negotiate vaccine procurements and donation agreements and to announce the signature of a contract on the very same day, when who declared the fake. I would like to underline that the unprecedented speed of the 16 purchase was only possible because of the preparation and the continuous contacts. Of course, this purchase and donation is also made possible with support of Babay Nordic, which contributed 40,000 of the 250,000 doses to the total donation and the AFIC CDC, of course, which will distribute the doses based on established continental vaccine strategy and regional needs. The first delivery of vaccines procured by Hera will reach DSC this week, our acting head of Hera is actually on its way to Kinshasa for further arrangements. In addition to the donation of the 250,000 vaccines, Commissioner kiriakidis called up on EU member states to display European solidarity and to consider bilateral donations in a team Europe spirits member states have responded to this call, and here is currently coordinating team Europe approach to ensure that these donations are organized and distributed efficiently as possible to affected countries across Africa. At the moment, two African countries have authorized the Bavarian Nordic vaccines, and the African CDC is working to finalize a continental response plan. Commission will also continue collaborating closely with member states and our global partners, as I mentioned, who African CDC, GAVI and particular UNICEF, to coordinate on donations and deliveries. And of course, vaccines are only one element in response to an outbreak, complementing other tools such as increased surveillance, research communication and strengthened health systems with other commission service, we’re exploring how the team Europe initiative on manufacturing, access to vaccines, medicines and health technologies in Africa, so called math plus, can support manufacturing capacities in the mid and long term. Relying on local vaccine manufacturing not it’s not a viable option right now, at least not for Mbox, for example, with Africa CDC, we’re discussing how to increase the availability of locally produced testing kits as part of the as part of a partnership to accelerate mpox testing in Africa worth three and a half million. We are in the process of finalizing agreements to increase the scope and the value of debt support also. So partners of durable the Herald network have developed a PCR assay, so testing assay for the detection of this particular clade, 1b which is already being used in some effing countries. I would like to mention here, for example, Burundi, regarding the EU I would like to be clear that the risk from this virus remains low according to the ECDC, my colleague, Dr Randi Wagner, is going to provide you more information on this. But despite the low risk posed by the virus in Europe, we continue its work to ensure countries have access to the relevant MCMs medical countermeasures for this disease. In addition, for example, in addition to the donation of these over 330,000 vaccines in 2022 and 2023 to EU member states. Hera has also provided options for member states to put to purchase additional doses of vaccines and therapeutics against mpox via joint procurement contracts, which are still in place in the current epidemiological context. And according to member states feedback, they should have sufficient countermeasures capacity to fulfill their needs, as shown also by the willingness of several EU member states to donate doses to our partners in Africa. Should the epidemiological situation evolve and the risk for the EU increase, member states still have options to activate rescue stockpiles, which were established over the past two years in collaboration with DG echo our colleagues in the commission, and which can be mobilized as a last resort in case of extreme need. Of course, here we are continues to monitor any new reports together with our colleagues in the commission and the ECDC in particular, in case there’s a need to reassess the medical countermeasure situation in Europe. In summary, we should all keep in mind that one of the lessons learned from covid 19 is that support for Africa and other regions is also important for protecting the EU. Thank you very much.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  42:02

The Good. That’s it.

42:05

Thank you. Dr Rendy Wagner, ECDC director, has the floor

Pamela Rendi-Wagner (ECDC)  42:12

well. Thank you, Chair, dear members of the NV committee, I’m really happy to be here today on behalf of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control as the new director. Well, during the past weeks, we’ve been hearing a lot of news about the growing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, and I’m sure that many of you just like me have been approached by many people asking many questions, such as, is this outbreak comparable to any other infectious disease or previous outbreaks such as covid 19 or Could this be the next pandemic in Europe, or what should be done about it? Well, and due to this rapid epidemiological developments, and due to these uncertainties, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control immediately updated its risk assessment of mpox, which was published about two weeks ago. And let me tell you the main message and the main outcome of our risk assessment upfront. So the main outcome, based on the current situation, is that the overall risk for the general European population is low. Well, when we talk about mpox, we Well, I’m sure you have heard that there are two clades. There is clade one and clade two. And let me explain. These are distinct clades of the mpox virus clade one with subclades, one A and 1b and the 1b is actually the newly emerging subclade. And then there is subclade two. And subclade two was the virus which caused the outbreak of mpox in Europe and globally, two years ago in 2022 that was mainly transmitted through sexual contacts at that time. Well, thanks to the European member states fast response and the ecdcs coordination, the number of people infected with the clay two virus have come down to very low levels today and this year, the preparedness, however, the mpox preparedness plans in the member states from the 22 outbreaks, they are still in place. And I think this is a very important circumstance and a very good circumstance right now regarding the current situation. What’s going on right now? Since November 2023 we have seen a notable increase of mpox cases in DRC in Africa, and a rapid spreading of the virus to neighboring countries. Well, the circulating virus has predominantly been mpox virus clade one, so. Not clade two, like in the former outbreak, but it’s this time clade one, and according to the data from the Africa CDC, with more severe clinical symptoms and a higher mortality rate than with the clade two. To date, in 2024 over 20,000 people have been confirmed infected mainly with mpox clade one and 582 deaths have been reported. So what is the difference between clade one and clade two? Well, while clade two spreads mainly through sexual contacts, clade one is more commonly spreading through other routes of transmission, mainly closed contacts within the household, or zoonotic transmission, and often this happens to children, although all age groups are affected. At the moment, the data show that infections by the subclade 1b virus concerns mostly the adult population, while infections by subplate one a concerns mostly children, however, and this is very important to know that there are many open questions right now, many unknowns regarding The transmission routes, regarding transmissibility and also regarding the severity of the disease of this new emerging clade one Furthermore, we assume that the real size of the outbreak in Africa could be much, much larger. This is due to severe underreporting and under ascertainment. So what is the situation in Europe right now? Well, to date, as it has been mentioned already, there has only been one imported case of clade, one in Europe on August 15, and this happened in Stockholm in Sweden. This person had a recent travel history to an African country. Well, according to the ECDC risk assessment, we have to be prepared that more of imported cases will occur to the European Union. That is why it is so important for European countries to stay prepared to detect infections as rapid as possible to prevent further spreading within Europe. What is the ECDC response? Well, there are two main important areas of action for us right now, first support the EU member states in preparedness and response to the mpox situation, including surveillance, laboratory diagnostics, risk communication, contact tracing, and many other public health issues to consider. And we do this in close collaboration with the European Commission, with the EMA who and Hera second. The second area of action of the ECDC is on the ground in DRC in Africa. So we have an epidemiologist, an ECDC expert, deployed at the moment in DRC through the EU health task force mechanism. This is happening in collaboration with Africa CDC, who DG echo and DG INPA. And this is very important, first of all, to support the African public health authorities to mitigate the impact of the African outbreak, in order to control the outbreak in Africa, to avoid further spreading to other continents. And second, to learn to learn more about the virus, the clade one and to close the gaps of knowledge right now. So what are the ecdcs recommendations for the European Union right now? First, raising awareness. Raising awareness among clinician is of utmost importance, raising awareness among the public. Second, effective preparedness and response capacities, including surveillance lab testing, which includes also genomic sequencing. What we need to differentiate between clade one and clade two, and also contact tracing third, providing advice to travelers going to areas with active virus circulation on preventive measures such as avoiding contact with wild animals or people suspected or confirmed with mpox. Fourth, in addition, vaccination should be considered for European travelers to areas with a high virus circulation, especially people at high risk for severe disease outcome. As we address the current mpox situation. One thing needs to be kept in mind, mpox is not the new covid. Mpox and covid 19 spread in different ways. They have completely different risks, and we also have an effective vaccine in place right now. This was not the case in 2020. We. When covid 19 started. So I would like to conclude by stressing again that the risk for the general population in Europe is low based on the current data. However, we need to be prepared. We need to be prepared for importation of mpox cases to Europe, and there is a need for strong and reliable cooperation and collaboration. That’s why we work together with our partners at the European as well as at the global level, which enables us for more effective responses to any public health emergencies such as mpox. Thank you very much. Good

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  50:42

afternoon.

50:44

Thank you. We shall now hear from Emma Cook, Emma Executive Director.

Emer Cooke (EMA)  50:55

Thank you very much. Dear chair, dear honorable members of the European Parliament as executive director of the European Medicines Agency, it’s really an honor for me to meet you at this first NV committee after the EU elections, and very much looking forward to working with you during the new parliamentary term. Now today, I’m pleased to give you an update on EMAS activities related to the recent mpox outbreak in Africa. And this is all about our preparedness and building on our experience during the 2022 mpox public health emergency. As you know, the mpox public health emergency, which started in 2022 affected more than 110 countries, and our experience and actions at that time mean that we are well prepared as regards medical countermeasures for the current outbreak. We have one vaccine, infinex for the prevention of mpox and one therapeutic test, severe mat for treatment of mpox, and they were evaluated by the EMA and approved in 2022 both authorized products have been used during the previous emergency and have proven to be safe and effective. Almost 2 million doses of the infantex vaccine or equivalent have been deployed worldwide, and approximately 300 doses, 300,000 doses in the EU these medicines are also suitable for use in the current outbreak, even though, as we have just heard, the clade of the virus is different now in the next the vaccine, the authorized vaccine, is currently only authorized in adults, but we at EMA level are already addressing and assessing data to determine whether the indication can be extended to adolescents, and we plan to conclude that assessment very shortly, as we have just heard, the risk for The general European population right now is low, but we know very clearly that outbreaks like this are best fought and stopped where they happen. So this is one of the reasons that we are also actively supporting the public health response in the African countries that are most affected by the outbreak. We at EMA have been engaging closely with the regulators in Africa and with the World Health Organization for many months, well before the recent who declaration, and we consider this crucial and beneficial, both for people in Africa and for our citizens In the EU for example, regulators across Africa, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have already relied upon the EMA assessment to support national authorizations for implements. Ema is also providing scientific and assessment input to the World Health Organization to expedite emergency use, listing or pre qualification of this vaccine as this will ultimately support procurement decisions of the UN and other bodies. Availability of effective and safe vaccines in Africa will help protect people from mpox and also prevent its global spread, as regards the possibility of use in limited supply situations. Ema, in August 22 provided advice on possible dose sparing of immunox via intradermal administration. This advice is still valid and can be used so that more people could be vaccinated. In the case that vaccine supplies were limited under EMAS extended mandate regulation which this house adopted in 2021 the agency’s Emergency Task Force, the ETF, has been proactive to ensure that we continue to be well prepared. It, the ETF has met regularly to discuss how to best tackle mpox and to assess any new data that emerges with respect to the EU approved medicines. It’s extremely important, but also very challenging, to collect further evidence during the current outbreak in Africa, because this tells us more about how the approved medicines work in different settings. So we’re therefore working closely with who and with medicines authorities in Africa to support data collection and the conduct of large clinical studies across different African countries, given the dynamics of the current outbreak in Africa, we need to ensure that data is generated to support the use of vaccines in younger children. There is already a study on children planned in DRC and Uganda later this year, and Ema stands available to provide scientific support to ensure that well designed clinical trials can provide the evidence needed, and we are strongly advocating for avoiding duplication and fragmentation. We are also proactively engaging with medicines developers, looking at how we can support and advanced the development of other vaccines and therapeutics that could provide additional protection about impacts against mpox. So to summarize, we have we have authorized safe and effective medicines in Europe that are available for use in the member states. Ema is also working very closely with the World Health Organization and African authorities and the Commission, both DG Hera and DG sante, to support registration and access to those authorized medicines also in Africa, I can assure you that we will continue to work intensively on this health challenge going forward. Thank you for the invitation to update you today, and I’m happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you, Gracie,

57:10

thank you. Now we’ll hear from group coordinators or their representatives, and we’ll also have catch the eye so members of the committee will be able to come in. Peter, Lisa,

Peter Liese  57:28

thank you Chair, and thank you that you put this issue on the agenda after the request of EPP. And thank you to our speakers. My you know, I have three important messages that I took from the presentations today and from all the information that I gathered. First, we all need to stay calm. This outbreak is not comparable with covid, and most, most likely it will not be like covid. The second point is, but we have to be aware there will most likely be cases in the European Union. I agree with Mrs. Randy Wagner here. And if that happens, Europe needs to act together. And not only, member states need to act individually. And third, it’s a big problem for Africa. So for the moment, I don’t see a big problem for Europe, but for Africa, it’s already a big problem. And I was quite impressed when I heard from Emma’s staff that there is a clinical trial on the antiviral medicine, and not only it showed that the medicine works and you are better off if you get the medicine, but even if you don’t get the medicine, if you Get the placebo, but you are included in the clinical trial, the survival rate is much bigger, which means a good medical system helps, and that’s why we are rather safe in Europe. But also it shows that what we need to do in Africa is to show solidarity, and not only to deliver the vaccine, but to help with the medical infrastructure. It’s a long term issue, but it’s very important, and we cannot rely on solidarity with Africa when it comes to geopolitical issues or when we need resources. We also need to help Africa now. And I think it’s not only an issue for DG sante and EU for health, it’s also something for Echo and our external policy, because this is an important dimension. So I encourage you to work with eco and the External Action Service. So. I have very few questions. First of all, there is a stock in Europe, when we have a serious outbreak, how big is this stock? How many vaccines do you have in rescue? A second point, I understood that Sweden has already given some clear advice for travelers. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to do it together in Europe, I have understood that member states have no appetite. But what is the purpose of having recommendations from one country and not for the neighboring country? People are traveling inside Europe, and last but not least, we have vaccination recommendations that are based on the 2022 outbreak. Now we see significant changes in the risk group. For example, many children are affected. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to have common vaccination recommendations adapted to the new situation. Thank you Gracia, thank you Timo Volkan,

Tiemo WÖLKEN (S&D/Germany)  1:01:12

thank you very much chair. And would also like to thank you all for being here and for your presentations, which indeed help to understand the situation very well. So thanks for being available today on this timely exchange. It is for me, very encouraging to hear and to see that the EU has been proactive in its actions, including through vaccine donations procured by Hera to mitigate the threat of the recent mpox outbreak becoming widespread in Europe. And it is, it is, it feels good to see that you are monitoring the situation. You’re very transparent about that. This is really reassuring, also for our citizens, as we all know, and as the covid 19 pandemic has told us health security threats have no borders, and it’s good to see that we act according to this. This is why I think the who rightly classifies the recent outbreak of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the neighboring regions as a public health emergency of international concern. However, we must also remember that such international threats require a collective and solidarity driven response across borders. We recognize that the 2200 15,000 vaccine donations will not be sufficient, which is by further coordination with member states. And traditional donations at the member states level are crucial. It is encouraging to see many member states committing to or already making further donations of mpox vaccines for the National stockpiles from the National stockpiles. Ultimately, this will help to mitigate the risk of a further outbreak in the EU. However, it is particularly disappointing to observe the behavior of certain member states, including the Health Minister of the Netherlands, of the PW, PVV, and the Patriots for Europe, who have blocked the donation of 60 of 100,000 vaccines from national resources reserves, despite the majority support in parliament for such a donation. And with this in mind, I would like to ask what is the current status of EU member states procurements and donations of ampox vaccines and therapeutics, particularly in response to the Commission’s request on August 22 additionally, what would you say to those member states to prevent unnecessary stockpiling of vaccines while ensuring the maintenance of adequate national reserves? And clarity on this issue is vital to ensure that we collectively meet our commitments and address global needs and protect our citizens. My next question is directed to the commission. We are all aware of recent budget cuts to you for health. We discussed it in the previous discussion here today and horizon Europe funding, I would like to ask specifically how these cuts will impact Harris ability to respond to further threats, given that the current contribution of 215,000 doses, while significant, falls short of the EU’s potential in demonstrating global solidarity this outbreak outbreak, and I am concerned that we may have to have too quickly forgotten the shortcomings we faced during the covid 19 outbreak. Are you already in a position to identify gaps or specific constraints in the EU’s response to the mpox outbreak that could be. Better address through additional funding or measures. Thank you very much.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  1:05:11

Gracie,

1:05:13

thank you. Matteo and mercy.

1:05:18

Mr. President,

Mathilde Androuët  1:05:19

thank you Chair, thank you ECDC, Ema representatives, we’ve heard a lot about mpox This summer, haven’t we, especially since the who launched that alarm call, and we have heard some worrying concerns raised. Human Health is a competence for member states, I would stress to those representatives of institutions here, and it appears that the commission wants to get its hands on more and more of these sensitive areas on the pretext that this will constitute a European reaction. We should not go for such an excessive, inappropriate, non transparent and costly, decent over centralization. It’s better for member states to do this. They know the situation on the ground in their own countries. Several experts have stressed that mpox, while a concern, cannot be compared to covid 19 in terms of its severity or the impact on the population. Professor Anton flow epidemiologist said that the mpox mortality rate is relatively low and is not transmissible on a scale comparable to covid 19. But the Commission’s approach appears to be an excessive knee jerk reaction, which would infringe personal liberties in future. And the commission is scaremongering in an unjustified manner. Now, of course, solidarity and donation of vaccines to third countries can be entirely desirable, but the commission should not interfere in that we saw the relatively mediocre results of doing this with covid. We shouldn’t give up our national independence in the field of health in such an unbalanced and untransparent way. So I would like to hear from experts here today as to how the EU can monitor developments, yes, and take measures at the EU’s borders. Borders can fulfill a health function. We saw that for covid 19, this group said that we had to strengthen border checks, especially at entry points such as airports and ports, what is the commission planning to do on that specific point? Thank you in advance for your

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  1:08:09

answers. Thank you.

Mathilde Androuët  1:08:15

A release. There you go.

Jeroen Lettens (DG SANT) – European Commission  1:08:18

Meaning care.

Aurelijus Veryga  1:08:20

Thank you, Chairman, I would like to thank the representatives of the various institutions for the information they provided. I have a couple of additional questions. First of all, as has been mentioned, the virus has certain clades, changes, it mutates. And one question I would like to ask to the representatives of the ECDC, do you have sufficient capabilities for sequencing because it’s important to monitor the situation Africa the spread of the virus. And the other related question is whether the risk groups are changing. Something has been mentioned, but do we have additional changes that could be mentioned? That is, who should pay more attention to this situation of contacts? It has been mentioned that aid is being provided to member states, but I would be interested in hearing whether there are major differences between the virus of covid, but how is the difference? What is the difference in contact? Retracing profiles? Are there any differences here? I agree to the call with the colleagues who mentioned that we should avoid the. Raising panic and repeating the errors made during covid pandemic, the chaotic closure of borders. Some countries have sent messages. I have seen messages among the experts that that raise questions about possible changes of transmission. Ways of transmission? Are these just speculations about the spread of the virus through air. So I’d like to hear precise answers, so that specific relations do not spread. Concerning the mortality rates, I will be interested in hearing what is the percentage of mortality rates and how much it is related to the ability to provide help by the healthcare systems and the danger of the virus itself, because The differences between Africa and Europe are quite significant. Thank you,

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  1:11:31

Gracia, Thank you,

Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY  1:11:37

Randy. Yes. Many thanks, Mr. Chairman, and I would like to thank the representatives from the Commission, Emma and ECDC, for their very valuable contributions today and listening to them, but also to some colleagues here, I see again how grateful we can be that we Have this we made this development in the EU in the last decades, that we have this collective approach based on science, based on knowledge, based on boots on the ground, both in Europe and in Africa, and also based on solidarity. So I would like to thank you for for for all that, and I’m really impressed by what has been done already by all the three institutions so far. I I have a few questions. First of all, it’s, it’s good to hear that the risk in Europe is low, but it’s, it’s quite dangerous to see what the development developments are in some African countries, especially if underreporting might be a huge problem as well, thanks to the lack of good infrastructure, my first question is also based on the European stock and the European solidarity, there are at least one member state, but maybe more who have not indicated that they want to send vaccines to to Africa, based on the assumption that they are needed in their own member states, but based on the European system, based on the European solidarity. Is that a real threat? Or can Member States be be more willing to send vaccines to Africa, because it might be much more important to to contain the spread of the virus there, instead of keeping vaccines that might also expire next year for our own use in our national member states. So that is, that is my first question. The second question is based on the current clade one understanding that children are much more than before, also victim of the virus. And it was good to hear from Emma cook that there’s an assessment ongoing whether the vaccines could be used for children as well. I think I heard you saying that that assessment should be finished quite soon. Maybe you can give some more information about that, and how far we are from also providing the vaccines to children, and what that also means for the necessity of the amount of vaccines, because we all know that Africa has a lot of small children. So if we can use those vaccines for for these small children, what does that mean for the amount of vaccines that are needed? Thank you.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  1:14:56

Good. That’s it.

1:14:58

Thank you. I. To be Mets has the floor. Very much. Dear

Tilly Metz  1:15:01

chair and dear colleagues. Thank you very much, also for the presentations that have been done very, very interesting. So African Center for Disease Control and Prevention declared mpox as a public health emergency of continental security, already in 2014 who declared public health emergency of intercontinental, international concern in 2022 and now again on the 14th of August, we heard that. So I’m extremely grateful that we have this exchange today, because it gives us really also the opportunity to assess how much we learned from the covid 19 pandemic as African empox epidemic gathers pace, the world has another opportunity to demonstrate now really collective commitment to tackling an international health crisis. The challenge is to provide effective diagnosis, vaccines and treatment to regions with poor medical and we heard that infrastructure and to do so more promptly and also more efficiently than during covid 19 pandemic and previous outbreak for viral infection, of course, and we heard that too, most likely. We do not have to be concerned that it will be another covid 19 as the mpox is not easy to transmit and is unlikely to mutate into a form that will cause a global pandemic. However, the new clade is of particular concern due to its higher transmissibility as the other one, and potential for more severe clinical outcomes, and particularly for children today. Still, the Democratic Republic of Congo is the epicenter of this outbreak, with 92% of all cases in the African region, almost 4000 cases and about 80 deaths have been reported the last week, according to the African CDC, bringing the Total in the current outbreak above 22,000 cases and 600 deaths. Fortunately, we know what is needed to contain this health emergency, and it depends on our political will, whether we do it or not. So besides physical assistance in the form of diagnosis, medicines, vaccines, global scientific effort is needed to investigate epidemiology, routes of transmission, symptoms and genetic evolution of the mpox, robust civilians must set up, and especially in the Sub Saharan Africa, where the virus is endemic in wild animals. So despite and I really, I’m happy about the actions taken by the Commission ECDC. Emma Hera, we definitely need to do more to fight vaccine nationalism, and it was already mentioned by two colleagues today, Fatima Volkan, but also by Mr. Gerbandi, what the Netherland is doing by refusing donations to Africa even though their vaccines are going to expire soon. So I find that quite scandalous. So my question is, are the following, what can we really do? What can the commission really do that the member states really show solidarity with the African countries? What other measures can we take there? And then my second question is about how we need an update, also as a parliament about the pandemic accord, the emergency shows again, how much it is needed to have this international pandemic accord. Commission is one of the actors around the table that did not want to compromise on access to drugs and treatments in developing countries. But this shows again, we need international agreement that guarantees access to vaccine in case of pandemic. And then also the African CDC urged vaccine manufacturers to share the know how needed for the vaccines to be produced locally at a lower price. Will the Commission support this call and assist with increasing the local production capacity. And then can ECDC assist in increasing the surveillance, especially the surveillance capacity, in the Sub Saharan Africa? And what is really doing being done there? And then I come also back to the question by my colleague from renew, we heard that vaccination for children is not ready now yet. So what is the timeline that is foreseen there? And at least, can you guarantee that the medicine that the treatments that we have for children are efficient, that they are approved? So that is another question I have. Thank you. I know I was a little bit too long. Sorry

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  1:19:41

for that, Gracia,

1:19:46

thank you. Can I please ask everyone to respect the speaking time Katrina mountains is next.

Romana Jerković – S&D  1:19:53

Obrigados,

Catarina Martins – The Left  1:19:54

thank you. Chair. Applause.

1:20:00

Mpox is a health emergency in Africa, and the first reason that the countries of Europe should act is for humanitarian reasons and solidarity with the people of Africa. I was rather shocked by some of the comments which were made, fake news. Alarmism, prejudice. These are our first enemies, and we have seen some prejudices, misapprehensions and disinformation at the starting point here, there’s a low risk for Europe. Yes, let’s hope it stays that way. And for now, what we should do is protect our populations and healthcare systems, to ensure that we are able to act if necessary, and a common approach to protection of our populations could be helpful, because we’re talking about long incubation periods. We’re talking about a 21 day quarantine period in Portugal, for instance, if a case occurs. So we need to bear that in mind. Looking towards the future. At this stage, we also need to look at the mortality rates, the fact that the new clade is has a high mortality rate, affects children more. We need to look at the vaccines available in member states, increase capacity. We don’t want to see a rerun of what happened with covid, which was that there was suddenly this rush and then a need for donations from one country to another. We need epidemiological surveillance in Africa tests. We need rapid tests, and we need to be able to study transmission there. The EU and its member states can play a vital role in terms of solidarity, epidemiological, vigilance and surveillance to know what is happening on the ground, another couple of questions. We’re very grateful to the experts who made their presentations on behalf of the institutions, but it is still clear to that there are difficulties with the centralization of vaccine production, the pharmaceutical industry not always acting in the public interest. We need trusted pharmaceutical partners, and we also need to look at contingency plans in the EU, particularly smallpox vaccines that are stockpiled. What is the inventory? It’s not clear.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  1:22:51

In Portugal,

1:22:52

thank you.

Romana Jerković – S&D  1:22:56

Daniela has the floor

Emer Cooke (EMA)  1:23:01

danke

Anja ARNDT  1:23:03

Thank you, Chairman, and thank you for your contributions made so far, the who has once again called a global health emergency and the highest warning level, this time against mpox. But are we moving towards a second pandemic, or is this targeted screen scare mongering? Since the 70s, there have been regular outbreaks of mpox in Africa. And what the most media, not most of the media, is not saying, is that the current outbreak is mainly focused on the UN refugee camp in Goma, Congo there and in the surrounding area right now, there are more than 1.5 million refugees. The camp is overflowing. Sometimes there are more than 20 people in a single tent. Their conditions are weakened, and that therefore favors transmission. So what we have to look at first and foremost is whether this new mpox virus is actually more contagious, or whether the higher figures can be attributed to the pact refugee camps. Globally speaking, mpox is not going to become a wildfire, as many people have said here today, because the risk group, groups belong are largely homosexual men and people traveling to Africa, the who is currently pressuring the government in central and western Africa to to vaccinate their entire populations. The new the German company biontech recently said that its new factory for production of vaccines was ready. It’s only 160 kilometers from that refugee camp in Goma. Is that a coincidence? And that’s where they’re developing the new mRNA vaccine. Seen is that a confidence, a coincidence, and it’s also in the last stages of the clinical studies, is that a coincidence. In May, biontech said that in the last months of this year, it would have achieved 90% of its profits three minutes, three months later, suddenly, the mpox virus was there in Goma. Is that a coincidence? The development of this virus was just at the right time. That’s when it began. And we in the ESN are saying too many coincidences. We’re demanding a study of the circumstances and the question of gain of function research in the United States, how that could be possibly linked to the mpox virus, we feel that we’re not necessarily dealing with a global health emergency, and we also believe that the scaremongering being conducted by the WHO HAS to be ended immediately, and we, on the contrary, have to help the refugee camp in Goma, not only with vaccines, but everything they need, particularly more tense and better living conditions. So my question is, what are the alternatives to focus on strengthening the natural immunity of people in Goma? Thank you,

Antonio DECARO – Chair  1:26:23

Gracia, quiero di intervenire. Thank you.

1:26:30

The chair of the Subcommittee on Health, Adam Aruba now has the floor due

Adam JARUBAS – EPP  1:26:34

to the fact that the risk of new mpox epidemic is a great concern in my country, so I will speak in Polish. Ship, never that is easier. Buchaos, Nanu, malpi, OSP sagtner,

1:26:56

the who has not taken any decisions saying that this variant should be seen as a global threat. But today’s debate, and other debates which have taken place in other fora, particularly with the medical agency, show that we’ve learnt some lessons from coronavirus and that the institutions are closely monitoring the health situation globally and reacting very rapidly. International cooperation is crucial, but we also need a monitoring and an assessment of the risk and the situation. We also need to see greater participation from independent stakeholders. It’s a life and death question. It could have dramatic consequences on human lives the economy, we have to help avoid committing the same mistakes in the past and to be able to react quickly. Steps have been taken, such as use of AI in the EU to monitor at global level, and already in 2020 we asked the parliament to take steps on that we know that the algorithms from a Canadian company made it possible to foresee the risk of coronavirus in 2019 there are Other possible solutions as well as, for example, monitoring contagious diseases around the world. DG arrow is already doing that, but we shouldn’t take things lightly at the same time, though, we shouldn’t scare people pointlessly. We simply have to listen to the experts and then in transparent manner, we have to inform public opinion without allowing for fake news and disinformation. We are expecting DG era and member states to realize that the situation is good. They need to look at available stocks of vaccines, as is the case for other diseases as well, but we have to simply act to ensure that the situation doesn’t further deteriorate. I would like to know the state of play in your preparations. Firstly, it’s not a disease which has an immediate risk to the EU, but that may happen. We saw it with coronavirus, if we work together hand in hand, we will not be competing for access to limited resources, forcing their prices up. Therefore, we could do much more by working hand in hand. We also have to support the Democratic Republic of Congo and the African content continent, more generally, to contain the limit their costs will be much lower than if we end up in a situation where European lives and the economy are at risk. This situation affects the entire world, and we have to avoid the risk spreading further, because it’s a risk for our people and for our con. Is today’s debate shows that it was a good idea to set up the Subcommittee on Health in the European Parliament, and we can see that the subcommittee should become a committee in its full right. Thank you,

Antonio DECARO – Chair  1:30:15

Gracia. Gracia Adam, thank you, and

Wolfgang Philipp (DG HERA) – European Commission  1:30:20

now I give the floor to the representatives of ECDC and Ema because there have been some questions, some requests for clarification. So we would like, if possible, to have some replies on those, the number of vaccines available, the state of stocks, the fact that Sweden has already started consultancy providing advice to people who are traveling, tracing possibilities in European countries, any changes to risk groups, etc. So I will give the floor, first and foremost to Wolfgang Philip. Thank you very much. Chair. I will start with a couple of answers around the stocks. I can only refer you to the answer that the Honorable Member has received from Commissioner kiriakides and Leonard chich around the size of the stocks, and we have to see that these rescue use stocks are last resort stocks. They’re used only in emergency cases. They are set up in complementarity to what member states have as national stocks, and as this is part of larger work around preparedness. Of mpox, but also smallpox, there is a certain level of confidentiality needs that need to be associated here. So I’m not in a position to give the precise number of these stocks, but they have been set up, and they’re available in case of needs around the traveling recommendations, I would say that is a discussion that needs to happen between the member states, and that is being done in the Health Security Committee. This is part of a stronger legal base, also at the EU level, to react to cross border health threats, piece of legislation that was adopted two years ago now. So that is a discussion that need to happen among Member States. But we have seen then covid 19, for example, that obviously only aligned advice is useful the same counts on the request or the question around vaccination recommendations based on the 2022 outbreak. Here again, the health security committee and the Member States certainly will have that discussion with the expert advice, obviously, from the ECDC and the who on the member states donations we I can refer to the call again from Commissioner kirikidis to donate doses. This is important and dynamic process, so we have received quite some responses from member states. It’s dynamic, and we are still collecting input here, but looking at the numbers that in addition to 215 what we know, or what’s already public, is that more than 300,000 will be donated by member states, but that is a moving target, so that number is increasing, certainly on a daily basis, and there will be an announcement certainly towards the end of the week with more precise figures in terms of a team Europe communication, once deliveries of first Vaccines will have arrived in Democratic Republic of Congo on the budget cuts and under you for heads, this is obviously, this is Obviously problematic that represents 25% of the remaining budget under you for health forever, until 2027 so we are looking into prioritization of our activities to be on top of what is actually needed in response to monkeypox, but also to other priorities. And we have to see what exactly should be de prioritized, or what can be What can be concluded. According to our work plan, it would obviously be good to have bigger budgets and also more flexibility to be more reactive or faster reactive without. Going through the different programs that provide the budgets. And that is not just now, in the in the in the context of of mpox on the question or the reaction around the excess, excessive reaction by the EC, obviously, we have learned from covid 19 and from other outbreaks. And one of the one of the speaker said it as well. It’s better to react fast, decisively and where things happen. So that is done now in a global approach. It’s not a commission on a new approach. It is in a global approach, under the leadership of who of the African CDC, to implement the strategic preparedness response plan to covid 19 to mpox, sorry, and we are asked by Member States to run this as a team Europe approach that was successful in the covid 19 pandemic, and we will certainly continue to do so. But here again, coming to the borders, that’s a discussion also around surveillance monitoring. That’s a discussion that should happen in the head security, health security committee, among them, among Member States, I can only refer again to global con, the global wastewater surveillance or wastewater monitoring and network that we have been setting up, and have more than 60 countries signing up for that already. So we will have, at the end of the month, an exercise where simultaneous monitoring of different pathogens is being done, including on mpox at airports, at different airports across the globe, on the solidarity aspect and the pandemic agreement. What is important now is that we have a decisive response to situation in in DSC and some other countries surrounding Democratic Republic for Congo. And that is happening, as I mentioned, under leadership of the African CDC, who in close cooperation with the EU, with the Commission and with some other international players that can actually ensure that vaccines and treatments arrive where they’re needed, and hopefully when they’re needed, to get the first wave of the outbreak of outbreak in as in multiple places Across the DSC under control. Thank you very much.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  1:38:02

Parola, Graciela,

Romana Jerković – S&D  1:38:04

thank you. Pamela has the floor.

Pamela Rendi-Wagner (ECDC)  1:38:06

Thank you for your questions. Many of you raised the question about solidarity with the affected African regions. Indeed, the ecdcs part with regard to solidarity is that we will send even more experts this month to the ground, on the ground, to Kinshasa, in order to support the public health authorities of the African affected regions in increasing the surveillance, which is of utmost importance for rapid diagnostic and isolation of cases, to get accurate epidemiological data. This is important, and data analysis, this is also where we support the colleagues in Africa, so we will send more experts there, and also to learn to close the gaps of knowledge which are there at the moment. We need to know more. We need to study this in Africa, many of you raised and it was Peter Lisa who raised it as first, the wish for harmonized approaches regarding travel advice. Indeed, ECDC is giving recommendations based on the scientific data available, and in the end, it’s up to the member states to implement these recommendations. But for sure, a harmonized approach across the European Union is the most effective one with regard to travel advice, also border controls were mentioned by one of the MEPs. Well, from a scientific point of view, we have to say that border control seems not to be an efficient tool for the control of imported cases. By the way, Clay too is still circulating in Europe, and it’s really hard to differentiate this at the border right now. And. Above all, it’s taking away valuable resources to do these border controls, which take which are highly intensive, personal intense, and it takes away personnel which we need for other very important public health measures. You raise the questions about changing risk groups? Well, with regard to Europe, the risk groups have not changed. We see the same risk groups as with the outbreak in 22 so it’s mainly men having multiple sexual contacts. This remains for Europe. At the moment, the risk group with regard to the African situation, I mentioned that children are now affected more and more, more and more. And when we look at the new, newly emerging clade 1b which is affecting also children, we have to see that these children live under very poor conditions in Africa. It’s displaced camps where most of these children live. So transfer this situation to Europe is not possible. So we might assume, and we can assume, that there isn’t a specific risk for children in the European Union not comparable to the African situation right now. So vaccination recommendations for the European Union should be targeted. We need targeted vaccination recommendations for high risk groups, which I mentioned already before, with regard to sequencing, genomic sequencing capacities in Europe. There is a lot of sequencing capacities in the European member states, the European Center for Disease Control, we have just launched a survey in the member states to see exactly how and how this sequencing facilities are distributed in the European Union. We do this via the emerging Virus Disease expert network we have across the European Union. But we can say right now that there is good facilities in place, and if there is the need of any member state, we can support them with direct service sequencing service the ECDC can directly give this support like we have done it in the covid crisis when it comes to transmission routes, this was a question raised also, is there the danger of droplet transmission? Well, there is some anecdotal scientific reports which say there might be also droplet infection. However, we can say, based on the data right now, that the main route of transmission is via skin contact, sexual contacts, household contacts, and Zoonotic transmission. But for sure, we know that there are many open questions. So more studies are needed to learn more about the transmission routes, case fatality rate. Well, at the moment, based on the data from the public health authorities from Africa and Africa. CDC, the case fatality rate for clade one seems to be 3% but this is from our point of view and the scientific point of view, overestimate of the case fatality rate because in situations like the African one, more severe cases are the one who are more likely to be reported and more severe cases are more likely to die. So that’s why there is an overestimate of the case fatality rate. So it can be assumed that the real case fatality rate of the clade one mpox virus is lower than that. Well, actually, I think this has been most of the questions which were directed towards the ECDC. Yeah, I want to just conclude that we need preparedness and response monitoring of the epidemiological situation. That’s what the ECDC is doing in Europe and globally, and it needs more cooperation. Why do we need cooperation? We learned our lessons in the covid pandemic, to be quicker, more effective, to use synergies, to learn from each other, and to save resources. Thank you.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  1:44:37

Gracias.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  1:44:41

Thank you and I now give the floor to Emma cook.

Emer Cooke (EMA)  1:44:43

Thank you very much Chair. Thank you honorable members. Thank you again, Dr Lisa, for putting this on the agenda. I think we had a couple of questions, particularly for Mr. Brandy and MS Metz regarding the use. Members of the medical countermeasures in children and adolescents. So I will focus my response on that. I would like to say, to echo my previous speakers, in saying, Our work here is about preparedness and international collaboration, and that’s what underpins what we’re doing here at the moment, as regards the vaccine the infomex vaccines. This vaccine is currently only authorized in adults, but in the wake of the increasing in cases in in Africa, we have requested additional data on the use of the vaccine in adolescence, and we’re now in a position to evaluate this data. We actually expedited the review of this data in order to be better prepared to give a recommendation for adolescents. Now the discussion, as I said, we expedited the review, but the first discussion in the scientific committee will take place in about two weeks time, so we will not have a conclusion before that time. At the same time, we’re working very closely with the who and the African authorities to try to get more information on the use of this vaccine in specific African populations, including in children. And there are trials planned in the DRC and the Uganda, and they will start in quarter three of this year. This will be, this will be essential to help inform us about the use of of this vaccine in children. And once we have the data, we will be able to to to use this for further deliberation as regards Tessa viramat, the antiviral this, this antiviral is already authorized for use in all populations, right down to infants. There is a study that has been conducted by the National Institute of Health in the US where, where we have now seen the top line results as regards, as regards the effectiveness of this product in children, we need to look at the more granular results to figure out exactly how this antiviral has been performing when administered to children. So we’re looking forward to receiving that data, because that, of course, will inform us as to the effectiveness of the antiviral in children. So just to conclude, we are monitoring the situation very carefully. We’re both requesting and evaluating data as it becomes available, and we are doing what we can to accelerate the review of any data that comes through, through our Emergency Task Force and our scientific committees, thank you very much.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  1:48:09

Good afternoon. Thank you,

1:48:14

and now we move to catch the eye. You and

1:48:20

I

Antonio DECARO – Chair  1:48:24

will start with Andes Kuria, thank

András Tivadar Kulja – EPP  1:48:27

you. Chair their colleagues. If you don’t mind, I will speak in Hungarian Karski, official colleagues. Said colleagues.

András Tivadar Kulja  1:48:44

Well, it’s all too easy to forget that 200 years ago, general life expectancy stood at 36 100 years ago, the average European lived only for 46 years, and now the average age is at 80, and we’re sitting in this room in order to achieve that aim. Member states have done an awful lot for health and an awful lot to combat disease and illness, but there are no guarantees on that, and that’s why we always have to have our eyes wide open and always work to ensure that we can limit contagious diseases, their spread, and that We can further develop our health systems. My colleagues mentioned natural immunity in the year 1900 child mortality stood at 16% from 1009 births. 160 of those babies died before they. Turned one so so much for natural immunity. We need new therapies, development measures in health so that we can guarantee that we live to a good age, as one of our colleagues just said, we can be effective if we invest in our health systems, because that is what will shape our health for the next decades and will determine life expectancy for Europeans. We have a very high standard of living in Europe, but we have our Earth as well. It’s a common good. If there’s an epidemic in Africa, sooner or later, it’s also going to reach Europe. Borders have been mentioned as well. These diseases are contagious. They spread. And in the modern world, it’s very easy to travel. Yes, we come to Brussels, and it’s very easy to carry disease and illness with us. And that’s why these questions are so important, as are our health systems.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  1:51:21

So

Tomislav Sokol – EPP  1:51:25

thank you. Thomas of so now has the floor. I would ask you please to respect the speaking time of one and a half minutes, because then we have to continue our agenda afterwards, and we also have to vote at 12 o’clock, you have the floor. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you all for being with us today to discuss a very important topic. Of course, this is not covid, and nobody is spreading any kind of panic here, but definitely, it’s a good thing that we in Europe have set up the system of closely monitoring and being prepared for any kind of future public health emergency such as this one. So I think that this, this is definitely one step forward that we did in the previous mandate. Which should be, which should be, welcome, some concrete points. So first we mentioned, somebody mentioned the powers of the Member States and the European Union on health. It’s not true that European Union does not have any powers on health care so EU can complement national policies, according to according to Article 168 of the treaty, but it has specific powers stronger, specifically strong powers in the area of cross border health threats. And the reason for this is that cross border health threats, epidemics, emergencies, contagious diseases, etc, are such that if they cannot be contained by the one member state alone. So this is these approach which cannot be resolved, resolved by individual countries we travel. We are in the Schengen area. We are in we are in border free area. So definitely, one thing which affects one member state affects them all. So so thinking that we can do things individually without a coordination and common European policies definitely naive, and this is something that that is definitely not true. So we need common European approach. We need common European response. And this has been proven many times before, and this is definitely some the case. And EU has a power, according to Article 168 to act here. Concrete question. Somebody also mentioned biontech and the vaccine that they are, that they are developing. So my question for Emma Cook is very concrete. Is, what is the earliest time when it could be expected that this, this vaccine is authorized because, because the this whole theory which has been put forward by some of the colleagues definitely does not have any merit, if it will take a long time for this, for this vaccine to be developed. And also on the question of stockpiles, I’m sorry that we couldn’t get the answer on the concrete situation of stockpiles in Europe, because it’s impossible to discuss policy options as European Parliament, if you do not know the concrete situation of stockpiles in Europe, what should be the policy responses? How much, how many vaccines we should? We should export to Africa, etc. So definitely, it’s not a good practice that you don’t get answers on such important things. Thank you. Gracias.

1:54:23

You. Thank You. Lauren Castillo has the floor.

Laurent CASTILLO – EPP  1:54:29

Merci, Mr. President, thank you, Chairman. I am going to be speaking in French with my doctor’s hat on. And as professor at the Faculty of Medicine, I think that the covid crisis we lived through really, really questioned our public opinion and the health systems communication. And I would like to thank the director of the ECDC for. Is that the risk is very low, and we shouldn’t scare our populations. Stands. We have to prepare. We have a vaccine. It already exists, and it works in two ways, prevention, vaccination of at risk subjects, but also people who have been infected can be vaccinated. There’s a long incubation, so they could be relatively effectively vaccinated if caught during the first 14 days. We’re not too sure about children, but the important thing is that we have to be close to the patients in Africa. It’s our role as Europeans, but it’s also important not to scare monger amongst our population. Thank you.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  1:55:55

Gracie Paso la parula. Romana yargovich,

Romana Jerković – S&D  1:55:59

thank you Romania, which has the floor and thanks to all our speakers today, unfortunately, public health challenges are constantly evolving, and current threat caused by M parks is reality, and it is Good to hear today that our key public health institutions seems to be prepared. It seems that they know what they are doing, and the situation, of course, called for solidarity, as it has been mentioned by many of you. But also we need to recognize that by helping Africa, we are also protecting, protecting ourselves. So as we heard, some European countries are creating stockpiles, but they are not willing, at the same time to share it with the African countries and put it in the mild way. It’s really not It’s not wise. So at this point, I already got answers on some of my questions. So I’m just wondering, are there beyond surveillance and beyond vaccinations? Are there considerations by any broader community protection strategies that we should know about. Thank you so much.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  1:57:33

Gracia, thank you.

Margarita de la Pisa Carrión – PfE  1:57:38

The floor now goes to Margarita della PISA carrion vivente, thank you, Chairman, and thank you and peace and to the invited experts. Now I know that there are still many conflicts of interests in the WHO secret, confidential contracts with the Commission, massive purchases of doses which not based on objective approach, temporary authorization, exemption of responsibility for for secondary for side effects. And the commission looked at the question of these, the side effects linked to the covid effect, because they said they were voluntary. Well, in the light of all of this, what kind of confidence can we have in authorities today, we’re missing an awful lot about this disease, the channels of transmission, so it’s difficult to decide on measures we agree with solidarity with those regions in which this disease is spreading, which have lesser resources to address it, but we need a broader approach, which has various different actions and that will help reduce contagion and spread. But on the vaccination, we’re hearing that it’s pretty much the only treatment. But we are really concerned about this situation because we know what many different regional governments are doing, and we know what was done by European governments with the previous previous pandemic. So we are lacking the details on this. How can we re establish confidence in decisions taken that the main measures are transparent and reasonable and will not limit health possibilities and the freedom of Europeans. Thank you.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  1:59:34

Gracia, gracias. Respecto de temp, thank

1:59:37

you and thank you for respecting the time limit. I apologize. I sometimes have to call on people. Well, I would ask please to respect speaking turns as well. I asked to take the floor at the beginning of the meeting, and my group has only been given one turn also. No, no, I wasn’t talking about your intervention. I was actually thanking you. Because you respected the timing and I was apologizing if sometimes, you know, I have to repeat this. I’ve come from a country where people stand up and speech 2030 minutes. They will. We do that in Spain as well, but our time is limited because obviously we have to vote at 12 o’clock. Thank you Richard. Richard,

Claudiu-Richard Târziu – ECR  2:00:30

thank you Chair. I’ve been listening to previous speakers, and there are many things I hear for the first time, and there are many things we still don’t know,

Adrian-George Axinia – ECR  2:00:47

but I will stick to what I wanted to say from the very beginning, namely, that when we hear words such as global emergency, medical, sanitary emergency, our first thought is, is this the covid once again? Are we starting to breach citizens’ rights and freedoms? Will we see more abuse from governments? Will we see more dirty deals conducted at commission level and at member states level. I think none of us here has forgotten those sinister moments where people who had no symptoms whatsoever were simply taken from the streets and led to hospitals like they were taken to camps, to force camps, and people were obliged to wear masks, clothes, masks on on their faces. Though this was not proven to do anything. Of course, we can’t forget the mad race to create those serums, so called vaccines, and that had adverse effects and still do very serious adverse effects, including death. And this is something that specialists say, not us politicians. So my question and my worry as representatives of Romanians here is, are we going towards the same scenario? I hope not. From what I hear, it looks like. It’s not, but I hope that people won’t change their minds. Now, when we speak of monkey pox, apparently this is politically incorrect, but it is a reality. From the 50s, this virus has been found in monkeys in laboratories, and over two years, who has declared an international public health emergency for this virus in order to create panic. The first time this happened, it was in 2022 and the second time about two weeks ago. So we see a recurrent fact here, declaring this sanitary alert or emergency, and I will end here, of course, we have to declare infections on international levels, but we should not overemphasize a disease that’s only present presenting itself in Africa. Now another thing I will use this opportunity to address the ECDC, and they should declare that human transmission is more likely to be accidental, and the virus is only spread with a prolonged contact, not an immediate one. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I

Adam JARUBAS – EPP  2:04:18

was speaking Romanian.

András Tivadar Kulja – EPP  2:04:19

Is there a public genera this

Adrian-George Axinia – ECR  2:04:21

public hysteria around monkeypox seems to be artificially fueled by international institutions, including EU institutions. This alarming approach, given the reality about the virus, leads to anxiety among citizens who remember the overregulation during the covid pandemic. Over emphasizing this phenomenon only creates unwanted pressure on. Stock markets and on EU policies, and leads to lower economic growth, lower than expected at the beginning of this year. Basically, this approach only leads us to more uncertainty on the markets. Moreover, given the pfizergate scandal and given that there is an ongoing criminal case at EPO about Pfizer gate. It is not right to introduce these vaccines without having a proper debate at EU just as we did with the anti covid, the vaccines we need to see to look better into how Hera acts and how it deals with the companies which have these contracts. Thank you very

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  2:05:52

much.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:05:57

Gracia Paso la parola Rasmus, thank you. Ratmusno, Chris has the

Rasmus Nordqvist – Green  2:06:02

floor. Thank you, and I will keep it within the time. And also ask a question that’s actually about disease control and how we can prevent this. I have a question for ECDC, because when we look back to 2022 and we saw actually how we prevented the impacts of getting out of control is very much based on the community work as well, from from especially the LGBTQI community, but we also saw many member states being really slow at actually offering vaccines back in 2022 to these communities. So my question is, how much is it also now looking into specific communities, how to work with them, actually, to do something about the situation in Europe so it doesn’t get out of control, because as last time, there is a low risk, as you say, in the general population in EU, and we should keep it that way. Thank you.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:07:16

Luti intervento predis and last speaker. Yonas yostad,

Jonas SJÖSTEDT – The Left  2:07:22

thank you, Chairman. I would like to come back to the question put forward by Peter Lee. Said, In the beginning of this question time about the stocks and the lack of reply from the European Commission, I find it quite disappointing, because if we don’t know what stocks they are, it’s really hard to discuss what possibilities there are to help the countries hardly hit by this pandemic. So I think you should reconsider that position to keep this not official about the stocks, 215,000 doses given to the areas most heavily infected affected by this pandemic. It’s really not much. You need a double doses to get the good protection. It’s most likely millions of doses needed. And of course, we would like to know what possibilities there are in the European Union to step up the efforts to help the confirmed and treated. Swedish case has been mentioned numerous times. There is no risk for any pandemic or spreading of the disease in Sweden, it’s been treated. It’s been well handled. As far as I can see, there are recommendations issued for those traveling to the affected areas. Those mainly concern how to avoid the disease, about health and hygiene and and how to how to act, to be able not to be to have the disease. It’s not really traveling recommendations. There are traveling recommendations for DRC, but they are mainly from safety concerns. But of course, it would be good to to agree on a common position among the member states for these kinds of recommendations. Thank you. Chairman,

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  2:09:07

grazie. Thank you.

2:09:12

We shall now give the floor to the CDC and DMA representatives the commission for their response. Wolfgang Philippe,

2:09:20

thank you

Wolfgang Philipp (DG HERA) – European Commission  2:09:21

very much. Very

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:09:22

much. Speech,

Wolfgang Philipp (DG HERA) – European Commission  2:09:25

I’ll be very brief. So on the again, this point came back on the on the stocks, I need to remind that we there’s two kind of stocks. One is national stocks, where not all figures are known and disclosed, and then the rescue stocks. And gave the position of the commission earlier, we need to see that we are in contact with member states to find out what actually is needed to be kept in rescue you as these are last resorts. National stocks are national decision based on on national scenarios, and we. And there are security considerations around these stocks, not because these vaccines are only again effective against mpox, but against smallpox. So that needs to be kept in mind on the point around the low number of doses, or 215,000 would be just a low number. It’s a dynamic process. There is an implementation plan. Discussions with who I think, CDC, all of these doses need to be vaccinated as well. You need to have a structure in place that is able to deal with that. And we are in discussion with Team Europe to see how further donations or acquisitions can be done to support that process, but that is done in close cooperation, also regarding the allocation with who and the African CDC, we know from the company Bavaria Nordic, the only producer at the moment at least, that we have access to, that’s 10 million doses until The end of next year. When it comes to points around transparency and procurement and how have us dealing with companies, I can assure you that we are doing this with a full set of professional assets. We’re doing this in a transparent way, and we are doing it with member states. So we have, for example, in the joint procurement we act on behalf of the member states, and they take the decisions on what to buy or not to buy, but it’s all done in full transparency, and we are doing this, obviously, very professionally. Let me also remind all of us that. And she said, it already mpox is not covid, so we should not start comparing this with with covid and the reaction to it. For the time being, there is a very distinct and enforced reaction and response activity going on in Central African countries. And then when it comes to one point that was mentioned around need for new therapeutics, or therapies to deal with deal with measures and health, just like to remind her, was especially created, at least to deal with the development of medical countermeasures, includes diagnostics, but also treatments, vaccines and other things for public health emergencies. And that is what we are doing. So far, more than a billion euros has already gone into development of such countermeasures and research and development of such medical countermeasures, and I would like to stop here to be relatively short.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:12:49

Gratze. Pamela rendi Wagner,

Mathilde Androuët  2:12:50

thank you. Pamela rendi Wagner, thank

Pamela Rendi-Wagner (ECDC)  2:12:52

you Chair. Well, thanks to one of the first speakers. I think it was Laurent Castillo. You mentioned also the post exposure vaccination. I think this is important to note, because it hasn’t been mentioned. I think so far, that there is also post exposure application of the vaccination, which is particularly interesting and important in high risk persons with underlying diseases, immunocompromised people. Moreover, there was a question, are there any public health campaigns in place? And yes, ECDC has published a number of reports on risk communication with regard to Mbox, which are very valuable, also to the member states. It’s highly important to engage with the communities of the risk groups in order to be successful, when you want to implement vaccination or any other prevention strategy, the question was raised, are we going to have the Same scenario like covid? We can reconfirm no human transmission. This question was again raised. So from the beginning, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control states clearly that it impacts infection involves close and prolonged contacts. This is the way of transmission, and this is the main difference, also to covid 19, which is quite of a different dimension regarding face masks. Well, we and the effectiveness of face masks in the prevention of covid, we have to say now we have definitely sufficient scientific evidence that face masks are effective, not 100% but they have a really important place in the range of important prevention measures such as vaccination, hygiene or isolation of cases. Yes, it was shortly mentioned that mpox was first discovered and isolated in monkeys. This happened in laboratories in the 1950s this is indeed the case, but I just want to mention that now most of the scientists are quite sure that small rodents in the African regions are the main reservoir of the mpox virus. Let me conclude that indeed, we should be prepared in Europe. We should be vigilant, but not alarmed. The risk in Europe for the general population is low. Thank you. Applause.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  2:15:44

Gracia,

2:15:46

thank you. Emma Cook,

Emer Cooke (EMA)  2:15:50

thank you very much, dear chair. And I think I have one question that I really want to address here, and this is about the specific question on biontech. Before I answer that question specifically, I want to just reiterate that we are working with many developers because there are needs for new vaccines and new therapeutics for many, many diseases, and for this reason, we work closely with developers who are not at all motivated to develop products for these, for these diseases that have not a huge international prevalence, as regards specific discussions With buy in with biontech, we have had some discussions with biontech. The vaccine is at a very, very early stage of development. It’s at phase one of the clinical trial development. This means that it is very unlikely that we will see any approved vaccine for quite some time. But I can say nothing more because we haven’t actually seen any data, but just to stress that the vaccine is at an early stage of development, I do think it is important that we focus on the facts and transparency. And I would like to reiterate that Ema is committed to total transparency about the evaluations of the vaccines and therapeutics. All the information is public on our website. This is information. This includes information about the effectiveness of the vaccines and the therapeutics, and it includes information on the side effects of those, of those vaccines and therapeutics, all this information is in the public domain. Is important that we focus on the facts. For the monkeypox vaccine, we have information on the potential side effects. These are rare. The most common side effects are rashes and injection site discomfort. This information is all available on our website. I do invite you to peruse it. Thank you very much.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  2:18:14

Gracie,

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:18:17

thank you. I think it has been highly worthwhile to listen to scientific data, to listen to these presentations this morning, and the envy committee will be closely following events over the next few weeks and months. Thank you all very much. Thank you, Peter, Lisa, for the request to include this on the agenda topic on the agenda of committee. Thank you, fam. We can now move on to item seven. Next item. This is a draft proposal for a resolution on the UN Climate Change Conference in Baku Azerbaijan to be held from the 11th to the 22nd of November. 2024 the MV committee has decided to send a delegation to cop 29 with two oral questions, one to commission, one to council, with a draft resolution we’re presenting for discussion today the vote on the oral questions to the commission and council will take place today at 12 o’clock or 1210 applause. benevike, could I please ask you to take your seats or leave. We need to move on, because we have to vote at 12 o’clock. So any of you who were here and now wish to have private conversations, Please do So outside you.

anto  2:22:29

Co sponsor. I’ll give the floor to the co sponsors two and a half minutes. May I remind you? Lydia, peraida, you

Lídia Pereira  – EPP  2:22:44

I thank you very much, Chairman, I will speak in Portuguese

Lídia Pereira  2:22:50

president. Chairman, dear colleagues, there are always high expectations of cop that happens every year. This year is no exception. Adaptation, climate financing, broadening the base of contributing countries, the list of developed countries being enlarged, the financial capacity of countries is a vital issue. The EU cannot foot the entire bill. Others need to shoulder the burden too. The EU and its member states are the main finances of the climate transition globally, the EU constitutes less than 6% of the population, 15% of global GDP, but it represents 1/3 of public resources allocated to the transition. If you take the case of China, huge economic growth over the last 30 years, China is now emitting more totally and more per capita than the EU so China should be on the side of finances, rather than the side of those receiving financing. And the same goes for Singapore or Saudi Arabia. So emerging economies need to be setting more ambitious targets and helping the most vulnerable countries, those who will most benefit from the assistance. The EU can play a role of global leadership. It has done so for mitigation. It has done so in climate negotiations, for instance, in the fit for 55 package. This can allow for 50 or should allow for a 55% reduction in emissions, if it works, but other countries will need to make a similar effort, put efforts into mitigation of climate change. There are other. Are issues here that should be stressed in the resolution water and water resource management, clean industry, decarbonisation of industry, not losing competitiveness, reducing the risks linked to climate change, we need to stand up proudly for what we have done and call on others to help as

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:25:26

we go forward.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  2:25:27

Thank you. Khabi Lopez, muchas, thank you, Chairman, from the 11th to the 22nd of November, as you are all aware cop 29 will take place in Baku. This 29th Conference of the Parties will occur in a context of much weakened multilateralism, whereas climate change is marching forward, and multilateralism is perhaps in its sort of last bastion here in the loss and damage from the Sharm El Sheik decision in COP 27 elimination of fossil fuels, going for renewables, improving energy efficiency, the decisions taken in COP 28 in Dubai. Now, as we move towards cop 29 we need implementation of those previous agreements. It’s an ongoing negotiation. It’s work in progress. Whenever there’s a full stop, there’s a new beginning, and we need new adaptation and mitigation. The EU needs to continue playing a leadership role, as it did in Dubai, as we undergo this major transformation. So in our view, there are three key issues we should be dealing with. The first major challenge is thematic financing, sustainable financing in the global stock taking, there’s this key, clear gap between contributors and recipients, and you hear a lot of rhetoric at cops from the international community, but we need to ensure that we’re putting money where our mouth is. We need to have more creative forms of financing, $1.2 billion annually, reflecting the needs of developing countries where there are different responsibilities depending on the level of economic development which we have adaptation is point two, adaptation to climate change, clear definitions, strengthening transparency, monitoring mechanisms, national adaptation plans, three mitigation, more ambitious mitigation, the first global stock take shows that current contributions, current NDCs, nationally determined contributions are insufficient to meet the 1.5 degree target, which we have set with one eye on cop, 30 parties will need to revise their NDCs for 2035 on the basis of the global stock takes conclusions the EU can continue being ambitious that has happened in the previous parliament. This parliament will continue alongside commission and council, with a strong voice for adaptation, mitigation and adequate financing for the sake of the entire planet.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:28:38

Grazie, Alexander, thank you. Alexandra, bonjour, Taki aburu 10

Alexandr VONDRA  2:28:43

to karate, well, let me speak Czech this time, because there is no lingua franca anymore. It’s the tower of Babylon is collapsing into a sea of national languages. So please enjoy my Czech. I would like to thank the Secretariat for all the preparations, but let me say that there is still a lot of work to be done if we are to support this, because I think this looks like business as usual. Europe is lagging behind in its competitiveness, behind all the world. We play leaders, but we have no followers, and I think that we have to adapt to this situation here in the European Union. First of all, I would like to know whether or not we are able to meet the targets that we have set up on ourselves. I think we should adapt much more, and adaptation measures are something that is missing there. We shouldn’t concentrate on mitigation so much, because it’s always just empty promises that we never meet. And furthermore, EPP has mentioned this, it is impossible that we pay the bill for the whole world. Simply no go. This will lead to instability of Europe’s economy and Europe’s politics, and it will help no one others must pay too. It is impossible for Europe to carry this burden alone. Thirdly, we need to have a much better balance between the environment, the social dimension and the economy. If we don’t do that, every single election in Europe will be a horror. I think No one here wants to sacrifice our democracy on the altar of targets that are not realistic. So there are voices here that say that we should continue the radical trend that we have started. Well, I think, on behalf of the ECR that we should wake up into reality and we should act, of course, we need the climate change not to threaten our people and our societies. But we must do that in a way that is realistic, in a way that brings results. We need to avoid a situation where, because of radical requests like ending fossil fuels now lead to destabilization outside Europe, in the Near East, in Africa, in Asia, even today, Europe faces a lot of consequences of this destabilization, and it is just silly to put more oil into the fire. So this is the end of my Czech contribution, and I hope that we will start speaking English once again so that we can listen to each other better. Thank you.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:31:49

Gracia vondra pasola, thank you. Emma Wiesner as the

Emma WIESNER  2:31:55

floor. Thank you very much. This is our most important tool for global commitment, and the most efficient way of making an impact is walking the talk. So if we want others to start delivering, we have to deliver ourselves. And I think that’s very important to remember in this this radical trend that Mr. Vondra is talking about that is what your group line is proposing, doing nothing more than 2.9 degrees of climate change. For me, that is the radical change. If we don’t want radical changes, we need results on these global climate meetings in order to do so. This resolution is extremely important, but it’s very weak as it stands now, we are not mentioning carbon pricing only by one word, and it’s very much flashing by. We need to really focus on carbon pricing. We need a global price on CO two emissions. We have pushed it before, and it’s hard, but we should not give up. The price on carbon is our most important tool, and the ETS is the showcase of how it should be done. The Article Six is an ongoing issue in all of the cop meetings. It’s never solved the Article Six, and we now see how it’s being raised by several parts of the world, the US included, to make it weak, to make Article Six a tool to avoid cutting your own emissions. Things has happened, though, since the last cop, we now have the carbon removal certification framework on EU level. So we now have a robust framework on how to measure carbon removals and how to make it sound and robust that should be the lead way on how to implement it. Also on global level, we need to have a sound framework making sure that we’re not hiding emissions behind removals. So I think that should be very much in the center of Article Six, and we can be much more focused in this resolution on what we want to see as Parliament when it comes to the result of the Article Six. So we will table amendments on several of these elements. Financing have been mentioned, of course, but also the ambition level. And before I finish, I also have a question for the commission that I want to start the negotiate, a discussion about, because I know the commission is in the room. We have a problem with the NDC, the EU NDC, because we need to to have our new NDC on EU level by February, according to the Paris Agreement. But the climate law and the initiation of the climate law process is stable at the same time from the commission. So how do we then assure co legislativeship, and how do we ensure that we are staying within the time frame so that we can have an updated NDC in time, but in the same time have a climate law that’s been gone through a robust legislative process? Can we manage that? So that’s a question to the commission and a discussion we need to have moving forward.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:34:51

Gracia record interventi. Let me just remind you that once we’ve heard from the. The co sponsors, I will be opening up the floor to members of the committee on a catch the eye basis. Lena Schilling,

Lena SCHILLING – Green  2:35:08

thank you so much, dear colleagues. This is going to be the 29th cop, 29 climate conferences, and we see the escalating crisis. We see it in Europe, but we see it worldwide, and now we have to take this one even more seriously than we did the first time. And yes, one of the big topics at this conference will be, once more finance. We have to talk about that finance is the cornerstone, and we need to be clear, it has to be social, just, equitable, and vulnerable communities have to be protected. This has to be a call on developed countries, on the European Union and member states. First, it is good that we finally reach the 100 billion US dollar goal, and now we need to make sure that it continues and reaches throughout 2025 what we need now is for all parties to agree on a post 2025 new collective, quantified goal, including safeguards to reach, and we need to reach the agreed Quantum. There is no time to discuss anymore. We have to take the actions. It’s the 29th conference, and I’m with Emma vizna here. We have to provide something. We should also set individual targets for financing mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage to ensure a more even spread of the financing. And we need innovative sources of public finances for the ncqgs, which has to include high contributions from those that are polluting the most. And the European Union has a responsibility here. Now, as for the EU ambition, the commission has to revise the European climate target law to set clear and binding post 2030, immediate intermediate targets at latest by 2025 it was good to hear President von der Leyen commits to a 90% reduction target by 2014 in political guidelines. However, I want to stress that the advisory board on climate change actually recommended 95% due to the equity principle and what we really need the EU has to phase out coal by 2030 gas by 2035 and oil by 2040 latest, and we had have to set a phase out date and process for fossil substitutes. So to sum up, we must commit to both financial targets, elevate our own climate ambitions and safeguard the integrity of these climate conferences. The numbers are clear, the stakes are high, and the world is watching.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  2:38:09

Grazie Ade,

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:38:11

thank you. Nicolas ferranduris,

2:38:16

Bon giorno calimera says,

Nikolas FARANTOURIS – The Left  2:38:20

Good morning, and I’m wishing the presidency and our committee an excellent term ahead. On behalf of the left, I’d like to say that we are happy with the the draft resolution, and we’ve put forward some amendments. I think this is an important moment for all of us, that we’re going to be in Baku, representing the peoples of Europe and the European Parliament, the work that was done in the last cop in Dubai, I think, is reflected in this. I would like to stress two or three things now on behalf of the left, first and foremost, that we really have to intensify our efforts on the loss and damage fund. This is was a very specific point, but we shouldn’t give up on it. We have to strengthen it. We also have to increase expenditure on biodiversity as well the climate change an important dimension is the fact that climate change doesn’t affect everybody in the same way there are certain sensitive social groups who are particularly affected. I’ve seen studies as well that show that women are more affected than men, and so through our resolution, we have to ensure that we have some reference to those most affected by the climate crisis, another aspect I would like to stress, and we’re going to be tabling an amendment on this, on the question of the climate crisis. And. At political heritage, political goods, there are numerous studies and a lot of research that show that

Nikolas Farantouris  2:40:12

that the situation with our political heritage is very much an aspect to be taken into account. And we also have to enjoy the question of free speech when we’re talking about humanity, the planet and future generations, climate change cannot be addressed through limiting speech, an expression of views. And I would like to stress the question of some of these global fora and the bit of a contradiction that they are organized in countries which are in the first line on on fossil fuels. We’re talking about emissions, but we organize meetings which are based in countries which depend on fossil fuels. Also the question of this freedom of speech. I do hope that we’ll have an open and free exchange of views and opinions in Baku. Thank you. Applause.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  2:41:23

You, that’s it.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:41:25

Thank you. So we’ll now hear from committee members. PETA Lisa, one and a half minutes for everyone, please.

Peter Liese  2:41:35

Thank you. Chair. I will keep it short. Climate change remains a huge challenge, and we need to continue our efforts to really reach our targets. But more important is to convince others to follow and not only to increase the targets in the European Union. In this respect, a very clear message to all the colleagues EPP will not support any mentioning of a 95% figure. That’s also not what the advisory board asked for. Even the 90% is a huge challenge, and we need to work on conditions. We need to be able to really industry to do it. And that’s not yet the case. So there’s lot work to be done, and for the international dimension, a 35 target is even more important. So let’s start to discuss not only about 2040 but also about 25 last word on climate finance, we strongly support the council approach. We need to stop to always ask EU members and the EU to put more money on the table. It’s time to put the pressure on Saudi Arabia, on China and others that are rather rich, and they didn’t really gave give money, and they didn’t take their responsibility. Now it’s time to put maximum pressure on these countries. Thank you.

Annalisa CORRADO – S&D  2:43:13

Thank you,

2:43:15

Gracia. Gracia, President,

Annalisa CORRADO – S&D  2:43:17

thank you, Chairman, and thank you to those who prepared this draft motion for a resolution. Cop 29 is crucial. I agree with others on that in international fora, as Javi Lopez said earlier, this is one of the last bastions of multilateralism at such a difficult historical juncture. From a geopolitical perspective, the EU has restated its level of ambition with the new commission. We have to tackle the climate crisis and energy independence, industrial competitiveness using the right instruments to manage social fragilities in our countries. All of this means we need to be a leader in combating climate change. As von der Leyen has said, if we’re to do that, we need to take out of the need for financing. As others have said, we need to cooperate with developing countries so that we see true cooperation and sharing of adaptation and other mechanisms, rather than propping up old fashioned fossil industries in a kind of colonial way, which unfortunately we have done in The past. We also need to promote adaptation through ecosystem adaptation, one health, global health, we talked about new threats, new pandemic threats. If there is a disease anywhere on the planet, then everyone can be at risk. We need. Look at one health, One Planet, 2035, 2040 these are good deadlines for targets, but we need to look at the 2030 targets first and foremost. Are they realistic? Do we have the right instruments in place? Unfortunately, in many countries, that appears not to be the case.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:45:18

Gracia, pasa, desola, parola,

2:45:19

thank you. That is

2:45:27

it on the way.

Mathilde Androuët  2:45:29

So we were in an oil country for a cop. Now we’re in a gas country for a cop, and this will be over the Z bodies. Unfortunately, of all those who perished for this, with no questions to the ordinary people as to whether they want to do this too, there’s a majority perception that environmental concerns are a little hobby for out of touch elite people. There’ll be new funds, new international products, but no actual, tangible solutions to the climate crisis. In the European Union, obviously, we have a climate crisis, but we have limited resources and damage to the environment, but there’s a geopolitical challenge to energy independence and economic policy, looking at the Russian gas crisis, for instance, LNG from the US or fracking, simply shift the problem, they don’t solve it. There are environmental challenges that and calls that sound unrealistic, calling an industry to do things, but without actually offering any solutions. This makes us more dependent on third countries, while we employ applaud supposedly ideal solutions on the basis of ideology such as wind energy. Nuclear is clean, no CO two emission in earned electricity production, and wind and solar are intermittent energy sources, so nuclear should be a central pillar. Baku could be a starting point for that discussion. We should go beyond declarations and have solid policies that will give us a sustainable, prosperous future, and steer clear of unrealistic targets, which will only serve to make us more dependent on third countries who are not always our allies. Gracie, thank you.

Jorge BUXADÉ VILLALBA – PfF  2:47:36

Thank you. It’s not on this draft motion. Look at multi millionaires in private jet. So they’re going to be going to pat Baku in their private jets to a place which is a major gas producer and then say, oh, companies in Europe, people in Europe, you have to foot the bill for combating climate change, not us. This farce is no longer funny for farmers, for people who’ve lost their jobs in Europe, for ordinary citizens who finding that their household expenditure is going up weak and weak. It’s pure hypocrisy. Tripling renewable energy capacity globally, we say, with a restoration of nature law that will limit activities by companies and limit nuclear energy in Europe, they say they’re concerned about nature. They discriminate against production sectors who actually work with nature, arable and livestock farmers and fishers. They say they want to combat disinformation, but when they get together behind closed doors to talk about climate, they don’t let any scientists in who dare to question the consensus of what the UN is saying. They’re a laughing stock. It’s just a few people in the elite behind closed doors, in rooms like this, and they’ll do the same in Baku. It’s the final proof of the hypocrisy that Europeans at large are footing the bill of

2:49:16

and then they come back and say, There’s no more time for talking. We have to act

2:49:24

in COP 29 seriously, 29 with more and more money coming in from Europeans, so that China, Saudi Arabia, and everyone else who’s endangering our safety and our energy security can carry on with we’re all going under as China and Saudi Arabia make a

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:49:55

pasola barula, Adana zelezka,

Mathilde Androuët  2:49:57

Daniel zelezka has the floor. I.

Anna ZALEWSKA – ECR  2:50:01

Thank you. Well. We want to prepare as well as we can, so in a calm spirit, let me say a cop is a sort of talking shop. Emissions go up. They go beyond all the standards young people saying don’t drink sparkling water, because every time you open a bottle of sparkling water, you’re adding to the CO two emissions, which are already going up anyway, that was the joke on the streets amongst young people last time I went to a cop. I think we need to be pragmatic. We need to prove that the money we’re putting in here, and we’re talking about billions of euros, we’re talking about billions of dollars that for many years now have been going into certain projects. We need to prove that this money is actually being put to good use as an investment, and to confirm what the UCR coordinator has been saying, read the reports of the European agencies, Environment Agency, we won’t achieve the 55% target by 2030 that’s what they’re saying. So we are slowly but surely becoming the laughing stock of the rest of the world. We set unrealistic targets and then throw this money around. Look at China. China’s raking in the cash thanks to fit for 55 now, some people haven’t got their headphones on. I’ll tell them later. We’ve seen a Volkswagen CEO saying we’re going to have to shut down our factories because of the competition from China. And there are 1000s of examples along those lines. So first of all, prove that the money is going to good use. Prove there’s a real impact if you say we need more money. Well, let’s look at how the money is being used by whom and for what, telling the whole planet we have to move to ETS. It’s a game for financial institutions to engage in. They enjoy playing that game that most ETS participants are tax havens, totally out of the control of the European Commission, Parliament

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:52:51

or member states. Thanks. That’s a pastor. Omglan, thank you. Per ol now has the floor.

Pär HOLMGREN – Green  2:52:57

Thank you very much. Back home in Sweden, today and probably tomorrow as well, we will reach 30 degrees, which is the first time ever in September. It may not sound a lot to many of you, but it is another national heat record. And to be fair, of course, a national heat record in Sweden is in September. Is probably not the core issue when we’re discussing climate change and the consequences of that. But at the same time, we’re seeing, globally, all over the world, in most countries, an increased amount of heat records. And it’s probably it’s especially during these severe heat waves that adaptation will be more or less impossible in a very, very near future, and that is, of course, why we need to focus even more on mitigation, because without that, there will be problematic to discuss adaptation, and we will be focusing even more on loss and damage. Five years ago, in the European Parliament, we declared that we have an climate emergency situation globally. But since that five years ago, the climate on this planet has already changed, because now for almost two years, we’ve been on average on the wrong side, on of 1.5 degrees. And of course, this resolution is very, very important, not at least that it is an important tool if we as the European Union wants to show that leadership that we often talk about and actually even often brag about, this is the chance to show that leadership to really raise the ambitions in this declaration. And I really hope. That all the political groups can be backing that ambition. Thank you.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  2:55:13

Gracie

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:55:15

paso,

2:55:17

thank you now the last speaker is Lynn Boylan,

Lynn Boylan – The Left  2:55:22

thank you Chair. And I’ll keep it brief, because I know people want to get on with the voting. Others have mentioned the importance of climate finance at this cop, and it has been an important topic for the last number of cops, and we still don’t have adequate solution to it. I think it’s always important to reiterate and remind members of this committee that the EU and member states within the EU, we have benefited from excessive carbon emissions, and those who have contributed least to climate change are the ones who are now suffering the most from that impact. So therefore we have to show that that leadership, and we have to attempt to remedy that injustice through climate finance. And I think, like the question, particularly for the commission, is that if cop 29 aims to set a new collective, quantified goal for climate financing, that we need to provide clear targets. We need to have transparency. We need to have accountability around climate finance. And therefore it follows from that that the new goal should apply to the three pillars of climate finance, which is mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage, and that those all three should be included under the new collective, quantified goal, because that is the best way to ensure that earlier voluntary commitments, for example, around loss and damage are actually met. So this was the question is for the commission to explain its approach to the inclusion of loss and damage funding under that new collective quantified goal, and also we need to go back to making sure that climate finance is about a form of grants and not indebting those countries in the Global South further. And as I remind everyone, they were least responsible for climate change.

Javi LÓPEZ – S&D  2:57:20

Good at shit you. Thank

Antonio DECARO – Chair  2:57:23

you. Now, before I give the floor to the commission, I would ask you please to get organized in coming back to the voting cards, because speaking quietly, please, because then we’re going to move on to the votes. I’m going to give the floor now to Dimitrios devolis from the from DG Klima.

European Commission  2:57:50

Thank you Chair and thank you for inviting me again to your meeting. It’s becoming an annual rendezvous to inform you about our action regarding the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the climate change convention. So I will not spend much time informing you about what is at stake in this scope, because you already mentioned a lot of the elements of the agenda for this scope. I will just remind that the main topic, the main mandate for this cop, is to set the new collective, quantified goal for climate finance that is provided to developing countries. So that’s, that’s what we are mandated to agree, and that mandate comes from, from a long time ago, actually, from the Paris decision in 2015 we also have other elements in the agenda. We we heard from some colleagues here that we have to discuss the Article Six rules. Indeed, the EU is also preparing for discussing these elements, and we will discuss other issues that have to do with mitigation, with just transition, with adaptation and loss and damage. Now the timing of this scope is also important because it coincides with mandates that have to do not with decisions that we have to take in the cop, but activities that we have to implement as parties. One of those is to provide information through the enhanced transparency framework that we adopted back in Paris in 2015 so this is the first year that we have to provide reports about our activities, about our action and support. And these reports are called biennial transparency reports. So this year is the first year that we provide this kind of reports that apply to all the parties of the of the Paris. Agreement, and the EU is preparing now to provide this report and the member states as well, and we are certain that we will be on time to provide these reports by the end of this year. The second milestone has to do with the preparation and submission of national determined contributions by the parties and the National determined contributions are essentially the targets and the activities that we will implement to achieve these targets beyond 2030 so all the parties have been called to provide these targets, these national determined contributions nine to 12 months ahead of the COP of the year, 2025 which means from this November to this February, the EU is also preparing to to present its own national deterrent contribution. You know very well that the commission has made a proposal regarding the target that for the year 2040 that will be featured in the European climate law. It is our legal obligation to do that, and this target will become also a target that will be reflected in our national determined contribution. So to answer straight away, the question about where the commission is standing with these preparations. This the target will be presented with the amendment of the European climate law, and we are at the hands of our leaders when it comes to the approval of our targets, in order to be able to present these targets in our national deterrent contribution. Now, when it comes to our preparations for this, for this scope, as every year, we are adopting environment Council conclusions that that are essentially our mandate for these negotiations, our public mandate. So we send our messages to the rest of the world through through this, through these Council conclusions, and these are due to be approved in the middle of October. So now we’re in the phase where, through the working parties of the council we are, we’re drafting these Council conclusions, and we’re going to have additional conclusions under the echo fin on the seventh of October that also covered the issue of climate finance. And these conclusions will speak not only to the topic of the national of the ncqg that is going to be covered also by the environment Council conclusions, but also on other issues of climate finance. Now, what is the action that we are taking so far towards our partners? We are making a DeMars that has to do with our climate diplomacy, but it covers other aspects of green diplomacy as well, where we are presenting our positions regarding the upcoming cop and our expectations from other parties. So these include elements that many of you have mentioned that have to do with our expectations for the new collective goal. We have made already submission to the university this public that has to do with what we expect this goal to concern. We are not taking numbers there, but we are very clear that the current contributors group will not be enough in the future to cover the needs of the countries. We will need more contributors to chip in. But of course, the lead will remain with the developed countries, as it is stipulated by the Paris agreement. And we are following up in other plurilateral settings with, more characteristically, the setting of the g20 you know that there’s going to be a meeting of the ministers of the g20 at the end of October, and then we’re going to have the meeting of the leaders. So we we anticipate that the g20 will send some strong signals towards the cop regarding the the capacity of the g20 members to take the lead in taking action mitigation action, by bringing forward strong national determined contributions, as well as leading into providing support to third countries, to developing countries. And I will stop there. Thank you, Gracia, thank you.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:04:35

So that concludes this item. The deadline for amendments is the 10th of september 2024 at 11 o’clock. This now takes us to Item eight, the vote on the budget. You. States regular Article 216, of

3:05:06

the rules ask us to

3:05:13

mention the substitutes report who are not members, who will take part in the votes. They should be notified before every voting session. So we have Andrea VESA replacing Christine Schneider Applause.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:05:49

Channel check. Let’s do the Check. I The vote is closed.

András Tivadar Kulja – EPP  3:07:57

Representative, Chairman, could

3:08:01

you add my vote against because I didn’t manage the vote. This was just a check. Actually, we were we’re just current conducting a check. Don’t

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:08:08

worry. Okay? Are they so samine or Yemen? So

3:08:23

we are now going to go through the amendments one by one. I would ask you by to vote either in favor against or abstentions by show of hands.

3:08:40

So in favor, abstentions against,

3:08:58

adopted that takes us to amendment number three

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:09:08

In favor,

Romana Jerković – S&D  3:09:10

against abstentions that’s carried

3:09:21

amendment four in favor against abstentions. Carried five in favor against abstentions. Carried seven. I

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:09:58

all rapper el voto. Alim.

3:10:01

So the vote on amendment number five, we would like to conduct a check please, electronic vote. Applause,

3:10:26

voting is closed, carried I was right, number seven in favor against abstentions carried

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:10:55

amendment eight in favor

3:10:58

against abstentions carried amendment nine in favor against abstentions, carried amendment 10 in favor against abstentions. Carried 11 in favor against abstentions carried

3:11:40

number 13 in favor against abstentions carried

3:11:55

amendments 14 and 15 are identical in favor against abstentions carried 16 in favor

3:12:07

and 1716. And 17 are identical in favor

3:12:12

against abstentions carried

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:12:19

amendment 18 in favor against

3:12:23

abstentions carried amendment 19 In favor. Against abstentions carried amendment 20 in favor against abstentions, carried 21 in favor against abstentions, carried 22 in favor against abstentions carried

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:13:14

now we’ll do a check on that one. Applause.

Romana Jerković – S&D  3:13:39

Voting is Closed.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:13:55

23 in favor,

3:13:59

against absent. Abstentions, carried. 24 in favor. Against abstentions, rejected.

3:14:31

25 in favor against abstentions carried 26 in favor against abstentions rejected. 27 In favor, against abstentions, carried

Romana Jerković – S&D  3:15:12

a check, okay.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:15:19

Voting is open. Well, that’s an incusa. Voting

3:15:34

is closed. Carried

3:15:47

28 in favor against abstentions rejected 29 in favor against abstentions, carried 30 in favor

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:16:17

against

3:16:19

abstentions, two rejected 31 in favor, against abstentions rejected

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:16:39

32 in favor,

3:16:43

against abstentions.

3:16:52

A check

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:16:55

voting is open for voting is closed, rejected I

3:17:25

33 in favor against abstentions.

3:17:40

Check Voting is open.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:17:52

Voting is closed. Carried I

3:18:13

34 in favor, against abstentions, carried 35 in favor. Against abstentions, carried 36 in favor against abstentions, carried 37 in favor against abstentions. Carrot and 38 in favor against abstentions. Carried 39 in favor against abstentions. Carried 40 in favor against abstentions. Check.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:19:43

The voting is open.

3:19:51

Voting is closed, carried for.

Antonio DECARO – Chair  3:20:00

By one vote. Do?

 

---

1st Meeting : 23 July 2024

1. Video

Link: https://acs.europarl.connectedviews.eu/embed/meeting/?refid=20240723-1000-COMMITTEE-ENVI&audio=qa&language=en

2. Minutes

European Parliament 2024-2029

 

Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

 

ENVI_PV(2024)0723

MINUTES

Meeting of 23 July 2024, 10.00-10.30

BRUSSELS

The meeting opened on Tuesday 23 July 2024 at 10.06, with Pascal Canfin (former Chair) presiding.

1. Election of the Chair

The outgoing Chair (Pascal Canfin) declared the meeting opened and explained the purpose of the meeting to constitute the Committee Bureau by electing the Chair and four Vice-Chairs in accordance with the Rule 219 of the Rules of Procedure.

The outgoing Chair announced that the quorum for voting (1/4 of Members) had been reached, thus the elections could proceed.

The outgoing Chair called for nominations for the position of Chair.

Tiemo Wölken (on behalf of the S&D Group), nominated Antonio Decaro for the position of Chair. Antonio Decaro consented to the nomination.

The outgoing Chair noted that Antonio Decaro was a full member of the committee and that he had completed the declaration on the Awareness of Conflicts of Interest (DACI),  the declaration of private interests (DPI), and the declaration relating to the Code of appropriate behaviour.

The outgoing Chair declared Antonio Decaro elected by acclamation.

***

Antonio Decaro (newly elected Chair) took the floor at 10.12.

***

2. Election of the first Vice-Chair

The Chair called for nominations for the position of the first Vice-Chair.

Peter Liese (on behalf of the EPP Group) nominated Esther Herranz García for the position of the first Vice-Chair.

Esther Herranz García consented to the nomination. The Chair noted that Esther Herranz García was a full member of the committee and that she had completed the declaration on the Awareness of Conflicts of Interest (DACI), the declaration of private interests (DPI), and the declaration relating to the Code of appropriate behaviour.

The Chair declared Esther Herranz García elected by acclamation.

3. Election of the second Vice-Chair

The Chair called for nominations for the position of the second Vice-Chair.

Alexandr Vondra (on behalf of the ECR Group) nominated Pietro Fiocchi for the position of the second Vice-Chair.

Pietro Fiocchi consented to the nomination. The Chair noted that Pietro Fiocchi was a full member of the committee and that he had completed the declaration on the Awareness of Conflicts of Interest (DACI), the declaration of private interests (DPI), and the declaration relating to the Code of appropriate behaviour.

Tiemo Wölken (on behalf of the S&D Group) took the floor to request a vote by secret ballot, following the Rule 219(2) of the Rules of Procedure.Sara Matthieu (on behalf of the Greens/EFA Group) and Pascal Canfin (on behalf of the Renew Group) took the floor to support the request of the S&D Group.

As more than 1/5 of the Groups requested a vote by secret ballot, the Chair proceeded as such.

Following the electronic secret ballot, the Chair announced that Pietro Fiocchi was elected as the second Vice-Chair by absolute majority of the votes cast with 52 votes in favour, 25 votes against and 12 abstentions.

4. Election of the third Vice-Chair

The Chair called for nominations for the position of the third Vice-Chair.

Jonas Sjöstedt (on behalf of The Left Group) nominated Anja Hazekamp for the position of the third Vice-Chair.

Anja Hazekamp consented to the nomination. The Chair noted that Anja Hazekamp was a full member of the committee and that she had completed the declaration on the Awareness of Conflicts of Interest (DACI), the declaration of private interests (DPI), and the declaration relating to the Code of appropriate behaviour.

The Chair declared Anja Hazekampelected by acclamation.

5. Election of the fourth Vice-Chair

The Chair called for nominations for the position of fourth Vice-Chair.

Ondřej Knotek (on behalf of the Patriots for Europe Group) nominated Jorge Buxadé Villalba for the position of the fourth Vice-Chair.

Peter Liese (on behalf of the EPP Group) nominated András Tivadar Kulja for the position of the fourth Vice-Chair.

The two candidates confirmed their consent to the nomination. The Chair noted that Jorge Buxadé Villalba and András Tivadar Kulja were full members of the committee and that they had completed the declarations on the Awareness of Conflicts of Interest (DACI), the declarations of private interests (DPI), and the declarations relating to the Code of appropriate behaviour, respectively.

Following an electronic secret ballot, the Chair announced that András Tivadar Kulja was elected as the fourth Vice-Chair by absolute majority of the votes cast with 64 votes in favour of András Tivadar Kulja (EPP), 24 votes in favour of Jorge Buxadé Villalba (PfE), and with 2 abstentions.

6. Chair’s announcements

None

7. Date of next meeting

• 4 September 2024 (Brussels)

The meeting closed at 10.40.

3. Coordinators minutes

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
COMMITTEE ON THE ENVIRONMENT, PUBLIC HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY
CO-ORDINATORS’ MEETING
– not to be treated in full committee –
24 July 2024, 14.00 – 15.15
Room ANTALL 4Q1
BRUSSELS
COORDINATORS’ RESULTS
25.07.2024
• Mr Decaro, ENVI chair
• Mr Liese, Coordinator of the EPP group
• Mr Wölken, Coordinator of the S&D group
• Ms Sardone, Coordinator of the PfE group
• Mr Vondra, Coordinator of the ECR group
• Mr Canfin, Coordinator of the Renew group
• Ms Matthieu, Coordinator of the Greens/EFA group
• Ms Hazekamp, replacing Mr Sjöstedt, Coordinator of the Left group
• Ms Arndt, Coordinator of the ESN group
1. ADOPTION OF DRAFT AGENDA
The draft agenda was adopted in the form shown in these minutes.
2. CHAIR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Limited remote participation will be allowed under the same conditions as during the end of
last legislature
3. URGENT DECISIONS RELATED TO PENDING LEGISLATIVE MATTERS
3.1 Confirmation of method for allocation of reports/opinions (auctioning points system)
Decision taken: Coordinators confirmed the auctioning points system as the method for
allocating reports and opinions.
3.2 Resumption of business – dealing with pending files
Decision taken: Coordinators decided to:
2
• continue to work on all the pending legislative files for which ENVI is the lead committee
or one of the lead committees (for joint files, pending confirmation by the other lead
committee);
• continue to work on ongoing ENVI opinions, pending confirmation by the relevant lead
committee that the work on the file will continue; and
• mandate the Chair, once he is consulted, to write to the Chair of the Conference of
Committee Chairs informing him of the Committee’s wishes.
3.3 Confirmation of groups and rapporteurs responsible for files which were allocated during
the 9th parliamentary term
Decision taken: Coordinators confirmed:
• the allocation of all pending files to the political group to which they were allocated in the
9th parliamentary term; and
• the allocation of the technical files which, in the 9th parliamentary term, were allocated to
the former Chair to the newly elected Chair.
Political groups are invited to confirm the names of the rapporteurs, or, as appropriate, appoint a
new rapporteur, and to inform the secretariat of the names of the rapporteurs and shadow
rapporteurs both for reports and for opinions by 12 September 2024, 12.00.
3.4 Involvement in the 2025 Budgetary procedure in light of the new Rules of Procedure
Decision taken: Coordinators decided to:
• appoint the Chair as standing rapporteur on the budget (including on the discharge) for
the first half of the parliamentary term;
• endorse the proposed updated approach on the budgetary procedure for the financial year
2025 regarding the budgetary amendments (endorsing the PP-PAs received in the second
round), and the opinion on the draft general budget (endorsing its provision in form of a
letter and within the adjusted timetable).
3.5 Clarification for the application of new Rule 57 on two former opinions
Decision taken: Coordinators mandated the Chair to request a clarification from the
Conference of Committee Chairs on possible ways to maintain the right to
deliver an opinion (under Rule 57) on two Commission proposals in view of
their impact on food safety and human health.
3.6 Update on corrigenda procedure
Decision taken: Coordinators took note of the information on upcoming corrigenda.
3
4. URGENT DECISIONS RELATED TO NON-LEGISLATIVE MATTERS
4.1 Update on EP missions in the 2nd semester 2024
a) UN Summit of the Future, NY, September 2024
Decision taken: Coordinators took note of the information and key deadlines described.
b) UNFCCC COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan
1. Composition of the 15-Member ad-hoc Delegation to COP29
Decision taken: Political groups are invited to inform the secretariat by 6 September at 12.00
of the names of their Members participating in the EP COP29 delegation.
2. Preparation of oral questions and a resolution
Decision taken: Coordinators endorsed the proposed timetable and approach for the
preparation of the oral questions and the resolution (amendments to be
tabled preferably in English in view of the very compact timeline).
Political groups are invited to inform the secretariat by 26 August at 12:00
of the names of the co-sponsor of each political group for the questions for
oral answer and for the draft motion for a resolution on COP29.
4.2 Possible mission to Colombia, CBD COP16
Decision taken: Coordinators decided to:
• request the authorization for sending an ENVI mission of 6 Members to the CBD COP 16
meeting from 28 to 31 October 2024;
• request a preparatory briefing from the policy department with information pertaining to
issues at stake at CBD COP16;
• invite the Commission to brief the committee on the progress of the negotiations at an
upcoming committee meeting.
4.3 Reply by European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA) to the request for a scientific
opinion on the specific hygiene requirements for fishery products
Decision taken: Coordinators took note of EFSA’s decision to decline the request for a
scientific opinion on this topic.
4.4 Appointment of EP representatives in European Centre for Disease Control
(ECDC) Management Board
4
Decision taken: Coordinators were asked to put forward possible candidates for the EP
representatives in the ECDC Management Board by Wednesday 28 August at
12.00 to allow coordinators to adopt a recommendation at the next
coordinators meeting.
4.5. Replacement of the representative of veterinarian organisations to the European
Medicines Agency (EMA) Management Board
Decision taken: Coordinators decided to accept, without any further action, the Commission
suggestion for a Council decision to appoint Mr Buhot as representative of
veterinarian organisations to the EMA Management Board for the
remainder of the term office (until June 2025) as a replacement of Ms
Iatridou, following her resignation.
4.6. Resignation and replacement of 2 members in the Paediatric Committee of the European
Medicines Agency (EMA)
Decision taken: Coordinators took note of the following replacements of two civil society
representatives in the EMA Paediatric Committee (PDCO):
• the appointment of Mr Johannes Taminiau as full member of the Paediatric Committee
representing health professionals (replacing Mr De Luca) for the remaining period of the
term, with Ms Pernille Skovby as alternate, and
• the appointment of Ms Victoria Romero Pazos as a full member of the Paediatric
Committee representing patients’ organisations (replacing Mr Vermeulen), for the
remaining period of the term.
5. PROPOSALS FOR DECISION WITHOUT DEBATE
5.1 Calendar of ENVI Committee meetings for the remainder of 2024
Decision taken: Coordinators confirmed the calendar of meetings for the remainder of 2024,
and instructed the secretariat to circulate it to all ENVI Members.
5.2 ENVI Committee linguistic profile
Decision taken: Coordinators approved the ENVI Committee linguistic profile.
6. POINTS FOR INFORMATION
6.1 Update on delegated acts, draft RPS measures and implementing acts
6.2 Update on the nomination process of the EFSA Executive Director
5
7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
8. NEXT COORDINATORS’ MEETING
4 September 2024 (timing tbc)