The European Parliament has voted to align the functioning of the EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) with the future regulation on cross-border health threats. MEPs previously expressed concerns about the European Parliament’s scrutiny role in the creation and functioning of HERA. As a result, Parliament’s health and environment (ENVI) committee proposed updating the negotiation mandate to address these concerns and strengthen the role of Parliament. The updated mandate calls for:
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Transparency for all public investments in research, development, manufacturing, production, procurement, stockpiling, supply and distribution of medical countermeasures.
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Close cooperation between the Health Security Committee and the HERA Board, the Health Crisis Board and other relevant Union agencies and bodies, in order to avoid duplication of efforts and to have coherence in decision-making at EU level, with a representative of the European Parliament as an active member of the Health Crisis Board.
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An in-depth review of HERA operations, to be carried out by 2023 and every 2 years thereafter by the Commission, including its structure, governance, funding and human resources, as well as the possibility of upgrading HERA to a standalone agency. In addition, Parliament requests that any reviews should be accompanied, where appropriate, by a legislative proposal, in full respect of the role of the European Parliament as co-legislator.
In Plenary, the amended text was adopted with 479 votes in favour, 71 against and 15 abstentions. Following the update of the mandate, interinstitutional negotiations will resume.
