Vote on reinforced EU-wide Health Programme
14-10-2020 - 18:13
On 13 and 14 October the ENVI committee voted on its draft report on the so-called “EU4Health Programme” to enhance health promotion and resilience of health systems across the EU. The report was adopted with 74 votes in favour, 5 against and 1 abstentions. The draft Report reinstates the ambitious funding of EUR 9.4 billion, as originally proposed by the Commission.
To reach the programme's objectives, the draft report proposes, inter alia, to strengthen disease prevention, reduce health inequalities and support digitalisation in healthcare. The draft Report also aims at increasing cooperation at EU level to improve preparedness in case of a health crisis. A EU4Health Steering Group, involving independent experts in the field of public health, is introduced to ensure effective implementation of the Programme. More than 1000 amendments have been submitted to the draft report, a large part of which has been distilled into 10 compromise amendments.